Scott Allan believes Kevin Nisbet is singlehandedly keeping Hibernian manager Lee Johnson in his job.
With a brace against Dundee United on Saturday, Nisbet took his tally to five from his last two games and seven in the six outings he has had since returning from a serious knee injury last month.
After his hat-trick sealed a badly-needed win over Motherwell the previous weekend, the Scotland internationalist struck in injury-time to rescue a crucial 2-2 draw against United.
It was a vital intervention from the on-form 25-year-old ahead of a massive Scottish Cup Edinburgh derby against Hearts at Easter Road on Sunday.
Hibs have taken seven points from a possible 15 but have still won just three times in their last 13 matches and were soundly beaten by their rivals in the league at Tynecastle just a fortnight ago.
Allan, who made almost 130 appearances for Hibs in three separate spells before departing for Arbroath in the summer, reckons Johnson should be thankful for Nisbet’s stunning form.
And, with suggestions Hibs are keen to start contract negotiations with their star striker, Allan insists hanging on to former Dunfermline and Raith Rovers player is paramount.
He said: “He [Nisbet] is singlehandedly taking Hibs back up the league and the goals he’s scoring at the moment are of real quality.
“When you’re scoring goals like that in January… I know Hibs are looking to get players out but they need to keep players like him because he’s going to be essential in getting them back up the league.
“I would say there’s obviously a lot of pressure on at Hibs at the moment but when you’ve got a striker like that producing the goods he probably is keeping him [Johnson] in a job at the moment.
“There’s a lot of pressure there but this window for Hibs is going to be crucial. I know Lee Johnson came out and said they’ll finish it stronger than they came into it.
“But if you lose Ryan Porteous he’s going to be a hard one to replace.”
Hibs have so far off-loaded Elias Melkersen, Kevin Dabrowski, Steven Bradley, Joao Balde and Jack Brydon, with more expected, as they make room for new signings.
Allan added to Sky Sports: “It is a bloated squad, there’s no getting away from that. But it’s got to be quality over quantity.
“Hibs have had a rich history of getting good players in on good deals and they’ve obviously changed that transfer strategy in the last couple of years.
“But the best players in their team are Kevin Nisbet, who they got from Dunfermline, and Ryan Porteous, who came through the youth set-up.”
