OBILEYE IS NOT SURPRISED BY NOUBLE’S RISE

IT TOOK a global pandemic to stop surging Livingston and Lyndon Dykes in 2019/20. David Martindale, then assistant to Gary Holt, was convinced the Lions would have finished at least fourth and claimed a European place if the league season had been completed.

Suggesting that a special season is stirring at the Tony Macaroni Arena, immediately after a pulsating success over Hibernian, Martindale likened the feeling to that of three years ago.

Playing the role of Dykes to quite devastating effect is Joel Nouble, which is of little surprise to his fellow scorer Ayo Obileye.

The defender, who towered at the back post to head the winner four minutes from time, first encountered Nouble nine years ago.

The striker remains something of a rough diamond at the age of 26 but the edges are being smoothed off by the excellent Martindale and his staff.

The hype from the torrid opening day he gave the Rangers defence is not misplaced. Much work on finishing and positioning has paid off, complementing the classy holdup play, footwork and physicality he already possessed on arrival from Aldershot last summer.

Nouble can stare down a defence, certainly one as unsure as Hibs. The visitors, with Paul Hanlon hurried back for his first start to replace the injured Rocky Bushiri, discovered this to their cost on six minutes.

Jason Holt snatched possession from Nohan Kenneh deep in Hibs territory and fed Nouble, who evaded a serious challenge before dinking over David Marshall.

Obileye has tipped Nouble to be a bigger Livingston hero than Dykes in the season that clinched him a £2million move to Queens Park Rangers.

‘Joel is a great player,’ said Obileye. ‘Last season you might not have seen that much of him because he was on loan, but I’ve known him since I was 17.

‘I was on loan at Dagenham and Redbridge when I was at Charlton and he was there. He was always good. You look at him and think: “Oh, he’s just a big, big boy”. But that is underestimating him. He will surprise you.

‘It’s great to have a striker like him who can hold the ball up and run in behind. He’s got great feet.’

Nouble failed to score in 18 Livingston outings following his loan at Arbroath in the first half of last season, playing all across the front three but predominantly wide right. Established now as a No9, with Andrew Shinnie and Scott Pittman in support on Saturday, he crafted two other opportunities for himself and a great chance for substitute Bruce Anderson.

‘You are just going to hear more and more of him. This is just the start,’ noted Obileye. ‘If he carries on doing what he is doing, he can be even better than Lyndon Dykes when he was here.

‘Lyndon was great — he’s a Scotland international, but Joel can be great as well.’

Three weekends in, Livingston already look like top-six material and responded superbly to Hibs drawing level, Obileye’s winner a rich reward for all their industry.

Hibs, on the other hand, have some serious questions hanging over them and midfielder Kenneh admits manager Lee Johnson was spot on to savage his slowstarting side.

Johnson’s half-time rant, a tactical reshuffle and the introduction of Martin Boyle prompted a major momentum and mood shift which resulted in Kenneh’s leveller on 51 minutes and an improved second-half display.

However, the Leith side’s sluggishness remains a concern and new signing Kenneh said: ‘We need to be bang on it from the first minute. The first half wasn’t good enough.

‘We’ve seen it in pre-season and in the games, the first half is killing us. We need to start with the mindset we’re losing the game and just go for it.

‘Everyone was saying in the changing room, we shouldn’t need to go a goal down to react. It improved in the second half but it still wasn’t good enough.

‘Why? I don’t know. The mentality maybe. I don’t want to make any excuses, we just weren’t good enough on the day. That was the hard truth we needed to hear from the manager.’

For 19-year-old Kenneh, every week is a steep learning curve after development football at Leeds.

‘Every point and every game matters,’ he noted. ‘Everyone is fighting for their livelihood, everyone has their families to take care of.

‘I need to get more used to men’s football. That’s why I moved here. I’m enjoying it. Games like this, physical matches, are definitely part of the education and are going to improve me.’