Hibs goal hero Oli Shaw now gunning for Rangers
Shaw struck eight minutes after replacing Marvin Bartley in yesterday’s enthralling 2-2 draw with the champions at Easter Road.
Celtic appeared to be on their way to a comfortable win after Scott Sinclair struck twice in the space of five minutes early in the second half but Efe Ambrose hauled Hibs back into the game before substitute Shaw scored for a second time against the Hoops.
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Hide AdAnd, in a dramatic finale in added-on time, the Hibs kid was denied the goal which would have ended Celtic’s record-breaking unbeaten run as Mikael Lustig cleared his shot off the line before Sinclair passed up the chance to claim a hat-trick and the three points.
Shaw, 19, netted only seconds after stepping off the bench in the Betfred Cup semi-final against Celtic at Hampden in October – his first goal for Hibs – and yesterday he was on target again.
“I’ve been getting a bit of stick from the boys who say that I only score against Celtic,” he admitted. “So I’m hoping to get the chance to play and score the winner against Rangers.”
Lennon has admitted Shaw, a prolific scorer for Hibs’ development squad, is close to earning a starting place and revealed it almost came yesterday but for the “magnitude” of the game, adding: “I thought it might be too much for him.
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Hide Ad“He is ready to play and did himself no harm. He almost got the winner, he puts himself in the right areas, he is a good finisher.”
Aware he’d have been spoken of in years to come as the man who had ended an unbeaten run for Celtic which now stretches to 68 games, Shaw said: “My only thought was to hit the target. The ball has gone through Jozo Simunovic’s legs and I thought it was in but Lustig has got back on the line.”
Having seen such a moment taken from him, Shaw admitted he feared the game might end in total heartbreak for him and his team-mates as Celtic almost snatched an even later winner themselves.
He said: “I saw Scott Brown break and I thought Dylan McGeouch was going to bring him down but Brown skipped out of that challenge. I thought Scott was going to shoot but then saw Scott Sinclair free and I thought ‘oh no’.
“Celtic are such a threat but he missed and the whistle went. That’s the nature of football.”