The mark of every great striker is that ability not to let it get on top of him when things do not go according to plan. Colin Nish proved that on Saturday with his first goal of the season, Anthony Stokes did so with three in two games against St Johnstone - and Derek Riordan did so yet again at the weekend, two recent penalty misses far from his mind as he confidently steered Hibernian back into the lead at Fir Park.

It was a goal that was made to look simple but was far from it, as was the piece of skill Derek demonstrated in his volleyed pass to Nish for the Hibernian opener. There were also times in the game when Motherwell must have wondered just how many Derek Riordan's were on the park, so often did they come upon the striker helping block their path from almost a left-back slot.

Riordan exemplified the type of fighting spirit that John Hughes has insisted he needs to see from every player, and on Saturday every player took a lead from the talisman striker, turning in what was by far their best performance of the season. Riordan however insisted he knew it simply had to be, it was time for the team to give themselves a good shake-up: "It was important for us after the defeat in midweek against St Johnstone, although we have been doing well in the league and we're sitting third in the table. We had to get a better performance and it worked out well for us.

"They had a lot of possession I think in the first half and got a goal, but we had a lot of chances and we could have scored a lot more with the opportunities we had. We had a lot of possession in the second half I felt, and took control of things when we went ahead again." Hibernian went ahead courtesy of the mixture of fighting qualities and skill demanded of the manager. Liam Miller, not for the first time in the game, harried the Motherwell midfield into losing possession before delivering a superb pass into the patch of Riordan: "To be fair I was considering whether to take a touch or not, but in the end I got my angles right. Miller played a good ball through to me and I just bent it in.

"Wee Zemmama was great as well - but he can do that, especially when we are winning! He can step it up then and he likes to muck about on the ball and he has the talent for that. He is handy to have in your team, especially for setting up players for goals. You need somebody in your team to play those free kicks and he got a goal from one this time - he took the ball off of me to be fair, but he got it in so I won't complain. But he is frustrating! You make these runs to get into those positions and the manager goes daft at you if you don't get into those positions, but if you make those runs and you don't get the ball then you are obviously going to be unhappy - it goes both ways I suppose."

With Scotland rebuilding for the European Championships, Derek remains hopeful of being given another opportunity at international level: "I am concentrating on my club football - it is George Burley that picks the team, all I can do is continue to play well and score goals. He can't keep refusing me is I keep producing on the park. I hope I am involved every time a squad comes out and I think I have done well this season with my goals - I don't normally score in my first four or five games so I now have 5 in 8 games and I think this is a very good return.

"As a team we have started well in the league and obviously the Hamilton game was disappointed as that would have taken us right up there. We're still doing well though and we have to keep it going."

Pic: Alan Rennie for Hibernian TV