Jonnyboy
21-10-2017, 04:27 PM
Hard to know where to begin with this one as we were the architects of our own downfall in conceding goals that were eminently avoidable. I guess the best place to start is at the beginning!
Prior to kick off I marvelled at the noise our support was making, even with thousands of empty seats behind the goals. It’s unclear why so many fans chose not to attend as this was a cup semi-final in one of the two competitions we have a realistic chance of winning. One thing that was obvious however was the absence of any kind of malicious atmosphere. Had we been facing The Rangers I’m convinced the hostility would have been evident for all to see and experience.
As the teams came out; Hibs in their black away kit and Celtic in a sickly green number, I wondered how we’d start the game. A few weeks back at Parkhead we stood off Celtic and allowed them to play whereas on this occasion the tactic should surely have been to press them high and from the off. That didn’t happen as Hibs started slowly and pretty much stayed that way for the entire first half. Celtic enjoyed lots of possession but seemed for the most part to settle for that, rather than getting at Hibs with rapid moves forward. That, in turn meant that Hibs were able to defend quite comfortably in open play but, inevitably, the opening goal arrived as a result of very poor defending by Hibs of a bread and butter ball into the box. As Brandon Barker fell asleep the ball reached the unmarked Lustig who easily beat Laidlaw at close range. With half time approaching and Hibs dealing easily with Celtic’s attempts to break through, a corner was conceded which Leigh Griffiths delivered into an area where David Gray had completely lost his man Lustig who shot for goal and must have been delighted when his poor effort was more or less bundled into the net by Laidlaw when saving it looked the far easier option.
Change was needed if Hibs were to make a game of it and Lennon replaced Gray and Bartley at the break with Whittaker and Boyle. I’m not aware that David Gray suffered any kind of injury and was left to wonder whether Gray’s error at the second goal was the reason for his replacement. Regardless, Hibs looked better right away and took the game to Celtic. A great move down the right saw Whittaker put a perfect cross onto the head of Slivka who, from six yards out contrived to head the ball over the bar. It should have been 2-1 but that scoreline did emerge on the hour mark when Boyata was dispossessed by Boyle who raced into the box where the Celtic man was adjudged to have upended him. I wasn’t sure at the time and neither, it seems was Kevin Clancy who only awarded the spot kick after getting the nod from his assistant. After the expected hullaballoo of protests, with Craig Gordon at the forefront in berating the assistant referee, Anthony Stokes sent the former Jambo the wrong way and surely it was game on?
When we went 2-1 up at Parkhead the general consensus was that if we’d kept them quiet for the next ten minutes or so, we could well have gone on to win. For that reason I thought if we could do the same, in keeping them out for ten minutes, we might well go on to draw level and then who knows what might have happened next? Instead, we shot ourselves in the foot and conceded a third that must have had Neil Lennon tearing his hair out. Hibs had the ball, gave it away easily and then proceeded to miss numerous efforts to clear their lines. Armstrong lofted the ball into the area; Forrest reacted first and fired the ball into the six yard area where it took a deflection into the path of Dembele who easily beat Laidlaw to make it 3-1. Both Forrest and Dembele had come on as substitutes and it would be another substitute that scored the fifth goal of the game. Oli Shaw was lucky if he’d been on the park for a minute or so when his clever run was picked out by Whittaker’s cracking pass. With Gordon advancing, the Hibs kid showed remarkable composure by sliding the ball beyond the keeper and into the net.
Hibs now had twenty minutes to push on for an equaliser and as the clock ticked down their forward momentum increased but without any reward. With a couple of minutes left, Boyle lost possession on the Celtic 18 yard line and before any Hibs player could react the ball reached Dembele who finished well to make the final score 4-2 and put Celtic into the final.
It’s a sore one to take as we kinda beat ourselves rather than Celtic beating us but we are losing too many sloppy goals and it’s something Neil Lennon has to put right quickly as we face Hearts on Tuesday night at Easter Road.
The players:
Ross Laidlaw – sadly the guy had a bit of a nightmare and was culpable for the second goal and should have done a whole lot better with the third and fourth. Had two or three excellent saves which will be forgotten in the post mortem.
David Gray – better, in an attacking sense, than defensively. Guilty of losing his man for the second goal and may have paid the penalty in being replaced at half time.
Efe – It seems odd to say he played well when we’ve shipped four goals but he did. Read the game well and pretty much kept Griffiths shackled. Took a real sore one off Lustig with the Celtic man lucky the yellow card he got wasn’t red.
Paul Hanlon – Again, despite the four goals, Paul played well enough though he possibly could have done better at the third.
Lewis – Had Roberts well under control and in my view was unlucky to be booked when the referee had allowed far greater offences than obstruction go unpunished.
Slivka – Had a quiet first half but they all did. Should have scored with the header but got underneath the flight of the ball and couldn’t steer it downwards with the net gaping.
McGeouch – the wee man does everything in his power to create and to push forward with the ball. Always available to take a pass and not afraid to mix it, I hope his injury concerns are now a thing of the past and on his performance today he wins my man of the match award.
Bartley – did what Bart does but his area of the park was dominated by Scott Brown who literally strolled through the entire 90 minutes while Marv was replaced at half time.
SJM – his first half performance was instantly forgettable but he came onto a game in the second. It’s worth noting that his value to Hibs’ creativity was the reason he invariably had two Celtic players around him when he was on the ball.
Barker – Showed some lovely touches and one lung bursting 80 yard run, leaving Celtic players in his wake. He is definitely a danger going forward, but needs to work on the defensive aspects of his game where he is often guilty of going to sleep.
Stokesy – worked his socks off as usual and buried his penalty with great efficiency. I felt sorry for him today in the lone striker role and felt he should have been given a partner for the whole of the second half.
Whitty – I thought he was great going forward and left a bit exposed when defending. His cross to Slivka was bettered only by his sublime through ball for our second goal.
Boyler – won us the dubious penalty and had Tierney worried on a few occasions but his poor decision to turn infield when the obvious thing was to shuttle the ball left, contributed to us losing a goal at the other end.
Oli Shaw – I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just my eyebrows that were raised when Oli was chosen over Simon Murray to go and partner Stokesy for the last twenty minutes! It was, therefore, inevitable that with almost his first touch of the ball, he calmly stroked the ball past Gordon to make it 3-2.
Kevin Clancy – It’s kind of expected that if you lose you’re going to have a go at the referee so I’m going to do that very thing. Clancy was awful and made a series of decisions that left me shaking my head.
Our fans – fantastic noise throughout and I happily joined in at the final whistle when the cry of Hibees Hibees went up.
Prior to kick off I marvelled at the noise our support was making, even with thousands of empty seats behind the goals. It’s unclear why so many fans chose not to attend as this was a cup semi-final in one of the two competitions we have a realistic chance of winning. One thing that was obvious however was the absence of any kind of malicious atmosphere. Had we been facing The Rangers I’m convinced the hostility would have been evident for all to see and experience.
As the teams came out; Hibs in their black away kit and Celtic in a sickly green number, I wondered how we’d start the game. A few weeks back at Parkhead we stood off Celtic and allowed them to play whereas on this occasion the tactic should surely have been to press them high and from the off. That didn’t happen as Hibs started slowly and pretty much stayed that way for the entire first half. Celtic enjoyed lots of possession but seemed for the most part to settle for that, rather than getting at Hibs with rapid moves forward. That, in turn meant that Hibs were able to defend quite comfortably in open play but, inevitably, the opening goal arrived as a result of very poor defending by Hibs of a bread and butter ball into the box. As Brandon Barker fell asleep the ball reached the unmarked Lustig who easily beat Laidlaw at close range. With half time approaching and Hibs dealing easily with Celtic’s attempts to break through, a corner was conceded which Leigh Griffiths delivered into an area where David Gray had completely lost his man Lustig who shot for goal and must have been delighted when his poor effort was more or less bundled into the net by Laidlaw when saving it looked the far easier option.
Change was needed if Hibs were to make a game of it and Lennon replaced Gray and Bartley at the break with Whittaker and Boyle. I’m not aware that David Gray suffered any kind of injury and was left to wonder whether Gray’s error at the second goal was the reason for his replacement. Regardless, Hibs looked better right away and took the game to Celtic. A great move down the right saw Whittaker put a perfect cross onto the head of Slivka who, from six yards out contrived to head the ball over the bar. It should have been 2-1 but that scoreline did emerge on the hour mark when Boyata was dispossessed by Boyle who raced into the box where the Celtic man was adjudged to have upended him. I wasn’t sure at the time and neither, it seems was Kevin Clancy who only awarded the spot kick after getting the nod from his assistant. After the expected hullaballoo of protests, with Craig Gordon at the forefront in berating the assistant referee, Anthony Stokes sent the former Jambo the wrong way and surely it was game on?
When we went 2-1 up at Parkhead the general consensus was that if we’d kept them quiet for the next ten minutes or so, we could well have gone on to win. For that reason I thought if we could do the same, in keeping them out for ten minutes, we might well go on to draw level and then who knows what might have happened next? Instead, we shot ourselves in the foot and conceded a third that must have had Neil Lennon tearing his hair out. Hibs had the ball, gave it away easily and then proceeded to miss numerous efforts to clear their lines. Armstrong lofted the ball into the area; Forrest reacted first and fired the ball into the six yard area where it took a deflection into the path of Dembele who easily beat Laidlaw to make it 3-1. Both Forrest and Dembele had come on as substitutes and it would be another substitute that scored the fifth goal of the game. Oli Shaw was lucky if he’d been on the park for a minute or so when his clever run was picked out by Whittaker’s cracking pass. With Gordon advancing, the Hibs kid showed remarkable composure by sliding the ball beyond the keeper and into the net.
Hibs now had twenty minutes to push on for an equaliser and as the clock ticked down their forward momentum increased but without any reward. With a couple of minutes left, Boyle lost possession on the Celtic 18 yard line and before any Hibs player could react the ball reached Dembele who finished well to make the final score 4-2 and put Celtic into the final.
It’s a sore one to take as we kinda beat ourselves rather than Celtic beating us but we are losing too many sloppy goals and it’s something Neil Lennon has to put right quickly as we face Hearts on Tuesday night at Easter Road.
The players:
Ross Laidlaw – sadly the guy had a bit of a nightmare and was culpable for the second goal and should have done a whole lot better with the third and fourth. Had two or three excellent saves which will be forgotten in the post mortem.
David Gray – better, in an attacking sense, than defensively. Guilty of losing his man for the second goal and may have paid the penalty in being replaced at half time.
Efe – It seems odd to say he played well when we’ve shipped four goals but he did. Read the game well and pretty much kept Griffiths shackled. Took a real sore one off Lustig with the Celtic man lucky the yellow card he got wasn’t red.
Paul Hanlon – Again, despite the four goals, Paul played well enough though he possibly could have done better at the third.
Lewis – Had Roberts well under control and in my view was unlucky to be booked when the referee had allowed far greater offences than obstruction go unpunished.
Slivka – Had a quiet first half but they all did. Should have scored with the header but got underneath the flight of the ball and couldn’t steer it downwards with the net gaping.
McGeouch – the wee man does everything in his power to create and to push forward with the ball. Always available to take a pass and not afraid to mix it, I hope his injury concerns are now a thing of the past and on his performance today he wins my man of the match award.
Bartley – did what Bart does but his area of the park was dominated by Scott Brown who literally strolled through the entire 90 minutes while Marv was replaced at half time.
SJM – his first half performance was instantly forgettable but he came onto a game in the second. It’s worth noting that his value to Hibs’ creativity was the reason he invariably had two Celtic players around him when he was on the ball.
Barker – Showed some lovely touches and one lung bursting 80 yard run, leaving Celtic players in his wake. He is definitely a danger going forward, but needs to work on the defensive aspects of his game where he is often guilty of going to sleep.
Stokesy – worked his socks off as usual and buried his penalty with great efficiency. I felt sorry for him today in the lone striker role and felt he should have been given a partner for the whole of the second half.
Whitty – I thought he was great going forward and left a bit exposed when defending. His cross to Slivka was bettered only by his sublime through ball for our second goal.
Boyler – won us the dubious penalty and had Tierney worried on a few occasions but his poor decision to turn infield when the obvious thing was to shuttle the ball left, contributed to us losing a goal at the other end.
Oli Shaw – I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just my eyebrows that were raised when Oli was chosen over Simon Murray to go and partner Stokesy for the last twenty minutes! It was, therefore, inevitable that with almost his first touch of the ball, he calmly stroked the ball past Gordon to make it 3-2.
Kevin Clancy – It’s kind of expected that if you lose you’re going to have a go at the referee so I’m going to do that very thing. Clancy was awful and made a series of decisions that left me shaking my head.
Our fans – fantastic noise throughout and I happily joined in at the final whistle when the cry of Hibees Hibees went up.