Disappointing Hibees
must start all over again
No crisis talk yet, but it can't be
far away on this form - STUART
CROWTHER
ALEX
MCLEISH CONTINUES IN HIS REFUSAL TO BE DRAWN on
any talk of a crisis at Easter Road, and that is just as you would expect
things to be from any manager fighting a clear lack of confidence in the
minds of his players. Hibs travel to Ibrox on Wednesday more in hope
than expectation, indeed even hope is perhaps not quite the term,
resignation being more in the minds of fans at least, if not privately
some of the players.
At
Easter Road yesterday Hibs started like a side ready to deal with their
demons, and indeed Zitelli, Luna and O'Neil were the architects of many a
pretty pattern around the Easter Road pitch that at times threatened to
swamp a Motherwell side set to flood the midfield. "We
could not have asked for a better start, we tried to capitalise on it but
could not quite do that," Alex
McLeish said after the game, and that just about summed things up
perfectly. Of course when you are up there, the breaks tend to fall
in your direction. After John O'Neil had converted a superb Zitelli
corner Hibs looked to be on the way to a much needed confidence booster,
but then Ulrik Laursen crashed another superb Zitelli cross against the
crossbar, and at that point the doubts again seemed to creep in.
That was certainly not lost on Motherwell, who came more into the game
from that moment on, as McLeish agreed when saying: "Motherwell
sensed that they were still in it, and as the game went on we became a wee
bit edgy - and they deserved a point in the end."
David Zitelli - a great first half but faded in the second (sns)
Some
Motherwell fans might claim their side perhaps deserved even more, the
Lanarkshire side coming close to scoring a few times but for all their
possession, the better chances that fell their way came from sloppy
defending rather than any creative abilities on 'Well's part. Hibs
should have had the game wrapped up by half-time, they did not however and
it is that lack of killer instinct that is costing Alex McLeish's side
enough valuable league points that might yet see Hibs fail to reach the
split in the top 6, unthinkable at the start of this campaign. "I
said to the players that I wanted to see them firing on all cylinders in
the second half and capitalise on our lead," McLeish said,
adding: "But the goal we gave away was very disappointing, it
should have been cleared. We were looking for composure from the
start of the game, but not in these areas, that was an error that could
have been avoided. Sometimes you have to take risks but you should
not be taking them in the last third of the park. We just can't kill
off teams just now - we had a few chances in the first half and Ulrik had
a header that crashed off the bar, these things happen."
New
signing Eduardo Hurtado took a while to get into the pace of the game, but
when he did in that first half Hibs fans saw enough to perhaps believe
they had a useful target man in the side. Hurtado looked composed in
the area, twice cutting the ball back for Paco Luna only for the
Spaniard's efforts to be blocked by some last-ditch defending from
Motherwell. The Ecuadorian striker tired as expected early in the
second half, to be replaced by Tam McManus. McLeish said: "Eduardo
had been training right up to Wednesday, but we are sure that when the big
fellow gets acclimatised we will see the best of him. I'd like to
see our strikers being a bit more ruthless - Paco has great technical
ability but sometimes the simple thing is more effective."
Hurtado in the thick of the first-half action - faded in the second period
with no service from midfield (sns)
Back
in goal for Hibs was Nick Colgan, the Irishman putting in a fair shift and
could hardly be blamed for Motherwell's equaliser, left exposed by
defenders who really should have had the ball up the other end of the park
rather than trying to pass it away during a period when Motherwell were
exerting pressure. Colgan commented: "I
was delighted to be back. The manager left me out against Livingston
which I was not too happy about, I don't think I deserved to be left out
then. Perhaps he feels it was the kick up the arse I needed, I don't
think my form warranted being dropped but that's the managers
decision. I'm back in now and hope to make the place my own
again, and where better to start than at Ibrox. Although the team
were conceding goals I did not think that many of them were down to me,
but it's the managers job to make these decisions. To be fair to
Tony he went into some difficult games, Livingston here and Celtic away,
but Tony is a good guy and he helped me a lot so I hope I can help
him. We were quite confident of getting the three points today but
we didn't, so the next three away games are going to be vital for
us."
Colgan
is as baffled as most at Easter Road at what has gone wrong this
season. "I think the new
players who have come in have not fitted into our system as quickly as the
lads who came in last season," he said, adding: "The
language problem is a difficulty as well. Paco and Ulises
don't speak very good English, and we're hoping that 'The Tank' who speaks
quite good English will help them. But in general we are not the
surprise package we were last year."
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