Ulises is just one scary guy!
...while Tam takes a costly nap!
(Stuart Crowther)ULISES
DE LA CRUZ IS JUST ONE SCARY GUY - at least that's the view of Hibs
central defender Paul Fenwick, but then that comment came after Fenwick
had just blasted Hibs third goal with his left foot, and scary would have
been the way to describe anyone who had predicted that eventuality!
It was though just one
of those days on Saturday, as Hibs turned in more than enough quality to
destroy a sorry Motherwell side by far more than the two-goal margin
suggests. Three penalties, that Fenwick cracker and the sight of
Franck Sauzee being surprised by one of his kicks form 12 yards actually
coming back at him, while later making sure lightning would not strike
twice by sending a trade-mark 20 yard free kick screaming into the top
corner. But what of 'scary guy' Ulises de la Cruz? Hardly 24
hours of the plane from a grueling midweek World Cup tie for Ecuador, in
which he was man of the match, the club record signing turns in 90 minutes
that had the Hibs end buzzing, and that from a right-sided midfield
position rather than his preferred right wing-back beat.
Ulises de la Cruz - will scare a few more SPL defences before the season
is out (sns)
"Ulises played for Ecuador in
midweek and picked up the man of the match award,"
Fenwick enthused of his team-mate after Hibs 3-1 win, adding: "But
to come back and be just as good is truly frightening, scary stuff, I
would not have been able to do that! After the amount of tavelling
he had to do it was a truly amazing performance."
It was all of that, but Hibs fans still left Motherwell in the firm belief
that there is more, much more, to come from a Hibs side who turned
Motherwell over with little fuss but without ever, one felt, getting
themselves into top gear. Tom McManus again started the game running
at the home defence like an express train, and his hustling style was not
well liked by the home fans who felt he was trying just a little to hard!
But McManus is a 100%
player, and that is all Hibernian fans will ever ask of anyone. The
striker though could have had another career in the movies, according to
his boss, after appearing to be knocked cold and having to be carried from
the pitch before half-time. "Tam will be
OK for Athens," Alex McLeish
revealed for the benefit of a relieved Hibs support after the game,
adding: "He did his 'John Wayne' impression and
sprung to life just as the stretcher was going up the tunnel, shouting
'gaffer, I'm alright'. But the doc had already ruled him out because
he thought Tam was out cold, but apparently he was giving it the Oscar
stuff and had jut shut his eyes for 30 seconds!"
The joker in the Easter Road pack will as a result find that all the jokes
are on him this week, as he flies to Athens with the rest a Hibs squad in
which confidence can only have been boosted by the performance at Fir
Park.
McLeish switched his
side to the defensive formation that had proven so solid last season,
recalling Gary Smith to play on skipper Franck Sauzee's right while
Fenwick occupied the left, with the result that Sauzee himself had likely
his best game of the season so far. The same can be said of Ulrik
Laursen, the Dane may believe himself to be a central defender but the
evidence was clear once again that he is far more effective patrolling the
left wing-back role, and with Alen Orman hard to shift from the right
McLeish took the tough decision in dropping Grant Brebner in favour of De
La Cruz in the middle of the park, and given that scary performance, who
can say it was not the right decision?
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