COLIN NISH was the butt of the dressing-room jokes as he slipped his feet into a jazzy new pair of white-and-gold boots which had arrived by special delivery courtesy of former Kilmarnock team-mate and ex-Hearts skipper Gary Locke.

It was the Hibs striker, though, who was laughing loudest as he claimed one of the quickest-ever SPL goals, slotting the ball beyond startled Falkirk goalkeeper Robert Olejnik after just 23 seconds before nodding home a second within the opening 24 minutes. Now Nish is aiming for a "Lotto" more goals from his swanky new footwear ordered via a contact at Rugby Park following a shocking miss against his old club the previous week.

He explained: "Gary Locke brought the boots over for to me but I was taking a lot of stick before the game when I pulled them on.

"They certainly seem to have done the trick, I scored with my very first touch and now, hopefully, there will be a lot more to come from them."

Nish's opener was so quick even boss Mixu Paatelainen, banished from the dug-out to a seat in the stand following a pre-season spat with referee Brian Colvin at Cowdenbeath, almost missed it, the big Finn revealing: "I saw it, just."

There was no doubting, however, the uplifting effect it had on Nish, his team-mates and supporters alike, Hibs' tortuous pre-season showings suddenly becoming far, distant memories as Paatelainen's players threatened to sweep the Bairns aside. By the time Nish dropped to his knees to nod home a Paul Hanlon cross, Olejnik had already pulled off a smart save from Steven Fletcher – one of three he was to make from the Scotland striker – and Alan O'Brien had driven a fierce shot into the side-netting only for Bairns hitman Michael Higdon to introduce a little self-doubt among those in green and white as he eluded his markers to head beyond Andy McNeil.

John Rankin scorned a terrific opportunity to restore Hibs' two-goal lead seconds later, sweeping the ball wide after O'Brien, at last showing the scintillating form of which everyone was assured he was capable, left him with only Olejnik to beat.

The home nerves were eased somewhat when Nish knocked Dean Shiels' free-kick back across goal where 18-year-old Hanlon was waiting to head it over the line from close-range for his first Hibs goal. That it came at the Famous Five Stand end of the ground where his father Derek, like himself a life-long fan of the club, has a front row seat made it all the sweeter for the young defender who hauled his jersey to his lips to kiss the badge.

He said: "I'd told my Dad I'd do that for him if I scored. As a Hibs supporter myself I was delighted to get my first goal, and for it to be the winner made it all the more special."

Hanlon's goal should have ensured a comfortable win for Hibs but with Olejnik twice denying Fletcher with outstanding saves before the striker saw a curling shot from 35 yards finally beat the Falkirk goalkeeper only to clip the bar, the Bairns came roaring back again, Higdon allowed space between Rob Jones and Chris Hogg to leave McNeil stranded once more.

As to be expected, Easter Road became shrouded with anxiety as Falkirk surged forward sensing an unlikely equaliser which almost came as deep into added-on time substitute Mark Stewart rattled the post, the final blast on referee Willie Collum's whistle prompting as much relief as it did delight at the win.

Hanlon said: We'd been a bit unlucky in recent games, things didn't fall for us or people missed chances which cost us but today we were lucky enough to hang on for the three points."

If Hibs enjoyed that touch of good fortune in the dying seconds, there was no doubt they thoroughly deserved their victory over a Falkirk side which, to their credit, didn't throw in the towel and contributed much to a fast-flowing entertaining match which quite easily could have seen the number of goals scored at either end doubled, as Paatelainen acknowledged.

He said: "I felt we were very positive, we created lots of chances, put good crosses in early and our strikers got into good areas. We had plenty of effort and we could and should have scored more goals. Scoring so early relaxes everyone especially with the situation we are in. I was pleased for Colin as well to get off the mark so quickly.

"It was our first win and you should have seen the boys in the dressing-room, they were over the moon celebrating because it meant a lot to them."

Nish admitted the win had come as a relief saying: "It really only preys on your mind because people talk to you about not winning and asking what is wrong so we were delighted and hopefully we can now go on a wee run."

Paatelainen also paid tribute to the efforts of his old pal John Hughes' side saying: "Falkirk are a good football team, they pass the ball well, create chances and you know if they get free-kicks they will put the ball into our penalty area and cause problems. All credit to them, they never folded. It must have been an exciting game to watch."

It was, indeed, a thrilling 90 minutes but while Hughes bemoaned his team's sloppy defending, Paatelainen will, no doubt, be pouring over the recording of proceedings determined to stamp out his own defensive deficiencies as he'll readily admit Higdon was allowed his goals too easily.

He said: "We'll learn from the game, what we did right and what was wrong and take it into this weekend."

Having branded some of his midfield players as lazy in wake of the manner in which they lost the only goal of the game at Rugby Park seven days earlier, Paatelainen, however, would have been encouraged by the work-rate of all on this occasion, Shiels filling in at centre-half as Hogg relieved the pressure by taking the ball for a walk up field and flying winger O'Brien using that blistering pace of his to cover some 60 yards to snuff out another Falkirk raid.

Much maligned throughout his first season at Easter Road, the sight and sound of the home fans rising as one to acknowledge his contribution as he made way for Ross Campbell late in the game must have delighted the Republic of Ireland internationalist.

But as delighted as he has been with O'Brien's form this season, Paatelainen believes there is much, much more to come from the former Newcastle United star. He said: "Alan is an exciting player with his pace against any full-back. He is improving with every game. I've always stated that you must defend as a team, that everyone has a job and when a team like Falkirk push their full-backs on you have to defend against them."