Article: We Must Be Up To Par

[HNA4]

John Campbell presents his rallying call for the upcoming vital match with Dunfermline at East End Park.

You can read his piece on the hibs.net Front Page... HERE (http://www.hibs.net/content.php?248-We-Must-Be-Up-To-Par)

[Mikey]

:aok:

[Saorsa]

John Campbell presents his rallying call for the upcoming vital match with Dunfermline at East End Park.

You can read his piece on the hibs.net Front Page... HERE (http://www.hibs.net/content.php?248-We-Must-Be-Up-To-Par):aok:

[Iain G]

John Campbell presents his rallying call for the upcoming vital match with Dunfermline at East End Park.

You can read his piece on the hibs.net Front Page... HERE (http://www.hibs.net/content.php?248-We-Must-Be-Up-To-Par)

Surely we want to be over Par at the end of the season ;-)

[basehibby]

Great article and bang on the money - YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU!

:pfgwa:pfgwa:pfgwa

[Johnny_Leith]

Can't read the link on my phone, could someone post it up? Cheers

[Jonnyboy]

Can't read the link on my phone, could someone post it up? Cheers

Here ye go

There’s no doubt a win against Cowdenbeath in the Scottish Cup was important and thankfully the players survived a torrid final ten minutes or so to close out the game and carry Hibs into the draw for the next round.

Considering the home side’s form going into the game as against the very poor run Hibs had suffered it was perhaps no surprise that a number of pundits, not to say bookmakers had this down as a decent shout for a cup upset and there must have been an amount of concern amongst the big travelling support at conceding a goal after just 19 seconds but in the end Hibs pulled it out of the bag and we must surely now all be hoping that the confidence of a win will carry into the next and extremely crucial match. After all, confidence is a crucial element in the game and as such a win under the collective belt must offer an amount of that.

The cup tie is over and done with and now Hibs must face their most crucial test for quite some time as they prepare to visit East End Park to take on fellow strugglers Dunfermline, a side that also had a confidence boost in their cup tie away to Inverness where only a very late goal denied the Pars what would have been an impressive result.

Essentially then we have a game where both sides are on a bit of an up after good results but in reality are fighting hard to escape lowly league positions. Dunfermline has already beaten Hibs in the SPL and will have that in mind when they line up on Saturday. Both sides are where they are because they concede too easily and don’t score often enough which sounds obvious but it’s a fact nonetheless. In preparing players for the game both Jim McIntyre and Pat Fenlon will be using all their guile to try and give their players an edge but there is one factor that is outwith their control and yet could make the difference during the game. That ‘factor’ is the fans.

Being a Hibby during the latter end of Yogi’s tenure was testing to say the least. For the whole of Colin Calderwood’s reign it was excruciating and even under the new gaffer there’s still been little to cheer so far. The result of our frustration and disappointment often rains down from the stands and onto the park and any player who tells you they are ‘in the zone’ and don’t really hear the crowd is telling you fibs. The crowd and its reaction towards what it is watching do indeed affect players, can make them edgy and nervous and will lead to mistakes. If you factor that in alongside poor form and an inability to close out games you end up at the wrong end of most results.

Now to be perfectly clear I am not ‘blaming’ the fans for the poor form and results but there must surely be an acceptance that if a team plays well with the crowd behind it, witness the AEK and 6-2 games as examples, then it may fail to play well if the crowd is exuding negativity onto the park.

Perhaps unsurprisingly I am looking to history for a pointer here and I cite a crucial match played in Fife at the end of the 1962/63 season when Hibs were locked in a battle with Clyde in trying to avoid finishing second bottom and being relegated. After winning 4-0 away at Palmerston, Hibs knew they had to get at least a point from their match at Starks Park against already relegated Raith Rovers whilst hoping that Clyde took nothing from their game against runaway Champions Rangers. That day an enormous number of Hibs fans flooded across to Fife to roar their side on despite the lowly league position and having gone out of both domestic cups at an early stage. Their presence and loud support made a huge difference to the players who won 4-0 in a canter with goals from John Baxter (2), Gerry Baker and John Fraser and after the game the players and the manager heaped praise on the support saying that as they came out to face Raith they were hugely lifted by the sight and sound of a green and white army.

They say we can learn much from history and I wholly subscribe to that view. I hope and pray that another green and white army will flood across to Fife to lift the players as they run out to face Dunfermline because where we are right now is a dangerous place and now more than ever this season YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU.

[HNA4]

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