During the summer John Hughes insisted he was looking to recruit a certain kind of player in his rebuilding of a Hibernian side capable in the long term of playing the kind of football he wanted to see at Easter Road. The manager promised Hibernian supporters that when he did bring players to the club they would more often than not be of an obvious quality that would make them sit up and take notice.

Most of the 13,000 supporters who rolled up to the Stadium on Saturday now know exactly what he meant, if they had not already realised. As the team is being shaped and teased there will be good and bad days, in spite of not winning all three points most would regard Saturday very firmly in the former category. The opening 45 minutes in particular saw Hibernian play some delightful football, entertainment of the highest order that not even gale-force winds that had forced other games to be postponed could prevent.

As was the case a week earlier against Motherwell, at the heart of the Hibernian movement down both flanks was Liam Miller. The Irish international was right in the face of his opponents, and with Kevin McBride a willing partner in the middle of the pitch along with Zemmama and Riordan working hard in the flanks the real mystery is how Dundee United managed to reach the interval only a goal down: "Obviously we went in leading 1-0 at half time," Miller said, adding: "But we held the upper hand and we knew that if we kept a clean sheet then we would win. However there was always that if we did not get the crucial second goal we would get punished for it."

Hibernian were punished for that, ironically not during the 15-minute period at the start of the second half when Dundee United finally appeared to waken up to the reality of the challenge they were facing. For Miller however the game provided more evidence that Hibernian are moving in the right direction: "I thought that overall the team performance was very good and it would be unfair to single anyone out. There are so many good players in the team and you want to give the ball to them, so it is a bit sickening that we did not take our chances as it could have moved us up the table a bit further."

One of the missed opportunities came in the second half when Hibernian still held their one-goal advantage, a superb cross from Miller that found the rapidly advancing Derek Riordan all on his own just 3 yards from goal: "To be fair to Deeks it was coming at him at a pace and it is an awkward one that bounces in front of him. You are lucky to get anything on it because it is coming in that quick," Miller said after watching Riordan connect with the ball only for it to fly high over the bar, he added: "It is also a case of two or three offside decisions that when I look back on now and don't think were correct."

Many times in the game Miller was able to deliver a pass and then look on in admiration as Merouane Zemmama weaved some magic: "He was different class and had a fantastic game. I have seen what he can do in training and he has set the standards very high, which to be fair to him he has been reaching recently. I didn't know anything about Zouma before I came here to be honest, but he has been top class in training and it is great to have him playing in your team."

On a personal level Miller does not feel he is back to his best just yet: "I feel that I still have a wee bit more to offer and with the games coming along I feel that I am getting back my match sharpness. It is all about getting more games and at the moment we are doing well so we want to keep that run going."

Pics: Alan Rennie for Hibernian TV