Occasions when injuries to key players have scuppered our hopes?

[G B Young]

I know I'm in a minority on here when it comes to having an interest in rugby, but when reading today about Scotland skipper Greig Laidlaw being ruled out for the rest of the Six Nations (a massive blow to our hopes for those interested :wink:), it got me thinking about times when Hibs have had their hopes dashed by injuries to key players.

The main one which springs to mind is John Brownlie's leg break the week after the 7-0 game. Coupled with Alex Edwards' lengthy suspension, it was an incident which many Hibs fans would say cost us our chance of the league title.

More recently, I recall Franck Sauzee carrying an injury into the 2001 Scottish Cup final, which followed the sacking of Russell Latapy and pretty much screwed any faint hopes we had of beating an all-conquering Celtic side.

Leigh Griffiths was also carrying a knock in the 2013 final (again v Celtic) and I think most of us knew before the game that without him at full fitness we really had next to no chance.

It also used to be the case that in the build-up to derbies (in particular when Jefferies and Levein were the managers) Hearts would regularly flag up alleged injuries to key players only for them to make full recoveries in time for the game.

[FC Leige]

I know I'm in a minority on here when it comes to having an interest in rugby, but when reading today about Scotland skipper Greig Laidlaw being ruled out for the rest of the Six Nations (a massive blow to our hopes for those interested :wink:), it got me thinking about times when Hibs have had their hopes dashed by injuries to key players.

The main one which springs to mind is John Brownlie's leg break the week after the 7-0 game. Coupled with Alex Edwards' lengthy suspension, it was an incident which many Hibs fans would say cost us our chance of the league title.

More recently, I recall Franck Sauzee carrying an injury into the 2001 Scottish Cup final, which followed the sacking of Russell Latapy and pretty much screwed any faint hopes we had of beating an all-conquering Celtic side.

Leigh Griffiths was also carrying a knock in the 2013 final (again v Celtic) and I think most of us knew before the game that without him at full fitness we really had next to no chance.

It also used to be the case that in the build-up to derbies (in particular when Jefferies and Levein were the managers) Hearts would regularly flag up alleged injuries to key players only for them to make full recoveries in time for the game. 2006 Semi against Hearts. If i recall right we were missing Brown, Thomson and Riordan through injury.

[Smartie]

It wasn't an injury, but Gordon Hunter picked up a ridiculous red card at Ibrox that led to him being suspended for the "Wayne Foster" game.

There is little doubt that Geebsie would have hoofed him into orbit for even thinking about running in on goal, with Foster probably being due to arrive back on Earth about now.

Instead, Dave Beaumont giving him the freedom of Leith to pick his spot and become a regular Tynecastle half-time draw attraction.

[fat freddy]

2006 Semi against Hearts. If i recall right we were missing Brown, Thomson and Riordan through injury.

i cant remember the starting 11 for that match but as soon as i saw the line up i knew there was no chance of winning, we were down to the bare bones with Paul Dalglish playing up front, anyone got the full line up?

[calumhibee1]

Sparky in the cup final against Celtic is the standout in my lifetime. A game that we could have won with him fully fit against a decent but not great Celtic side. He would have been there best attacking player if he was in their team that day. As it was, within the first 5 minutes you could see he was nowhere near being right and shouldn't have played. The game was over the minute that became obvious.

[G B Young]

2006 Semi against Hearts. If i recall right we were missing Brown, Thomson and Riordan through injury.

You're right. Chris Killen was also out and we'd just sold O'Connor which effectively left us with half a team, including a very dodgy keeper in Malkowski. No wonder we got thumped.

[Mr White]

2006 Semi against Hearts. If i recall right we were missing Brown, Thomson and Riordan through injury.
Riordan was suspended. Benji made his debut a couple of days after meeting the rest of the squad for the first time and with very little English. Chuck in 2 red cards and a masterclass in dodgy goalkeeping and I think it's fair to say that one just wasn't ever going to happen for us.

[Nakedmanoncrack]

i cant remember the starting 11 for that match but as soon as i saw the line up i knew there was no chance of winning, we were down to the bare bones with Paul Dalglish playing up front, anyone got the full line up?

Hibernian: Malkowski, Whittaker, Gary Smith, Caldwell, Murphy, Sproule, Hogg, Thomson, Glass (Konte 62), Fletcher (McCluskey 82), Benjelloun (Konde 70).
Subs Not Used: Simon Brown, Shields.
Sent Off: Sproule (78), Gary Smith (88).

No Dalglish, doesn't actually look as weak a team as I remember though Fletcher must have only been about 18 I suppose.
I stayed to the end but no recollection of Gary Smith being sent off!

[FC Leige]

I remember walking into Hampden and seeing loads of empty seats in our end even although i had queued for hours to get a ticket when they first went on sale. We also had two tiny subs in Sheilds and McCluskey.

[BS44]

2006 Semi against Hearts. If i recall right we were missing Brown, Thomson and Riordan through injury.

Thomson played that game

[Jonnyboy]

1958 Scottish Cup Final v Clyde at Hampden. Andy Aitken was badly injured early in the game and Hibs effectively had to play with ten men, losing 1-0

[FC Leige]

Thomson played that game Your right, it was Killen who was injured

[Smartie]

Hibernian: Malkowski, Whittaker, Gary Smith, Caldwell, Murphy, Sproule, Hogg, Thomson, Glass (Konte 62), Fletcher (McCluskey 82), Benjelloun (Konde 70).
Subs Not Used: Simon Brown, Shields.
Sent Off: Sproule (78), Gary Smith (88).

No Dalglish, doesn't actually look as weak a team as I remember though Fletcher must have only been about 18 I suppose.
I stayed to the end but no recollection of Gary Smith being sent off!

Is it just me or does that not look like a pretty decent Hibs team? I suppose it was early on the Hibs career of a few of those players, and they went on to establish themselves later (Benji certainly). They might not have done much at that point.

IIRC Caldwell played in the "holding midfield" role in that game.

Other than Mowbray's usual choice of playing an achilles heel in goal, it doesn't look that bad.

I'm sure the team that played Livi in the League Cup final had one or two surprises in it (Alan Reid playing for Hibs in a cup final at Hamden).

[Nakedmanoncrack]

1958 Scottish Cup Final v Clyde at Hampden. Andy Aitken was badly injured early in the game and Hibs effectively had to play with ten men, losing 1-0

:agree:

A very good one, just been reading about the '58 cup campaign, Clyde were a decent team and had finished above us in the league that season, but after beating both Rangers & the great Hearts side who won the title with record number of goals (4-3 at Tynecastle *Baker 4) enroute people must have been thinking ''this is the year''.

[Fife-Hibee]

Aberdeen final when jukebox played thru injury I felt that buggered our chances cannae mind the year!

[BS44]

Alan Rough broke his ankle in a Scottish Cup replay against East Fife. It's that long ago I have no idea if him getting injured made any difference though, we might have been two nil down at the time

[Billy Whizz]

Think it was the year 2000, Sauzee got injured at Ibrox week before cup final against Celtic. He played but don't think he was 50% fit that day

[FC Leige]

Aberdeen final when jukebox played thru injury I felt that buggered our chances cannae mind the year! At that time in 85 Aberdeen were one of the best teams in Europe. I doubt a fit Durie would have made much difference

[Robinho08]

i cant remember the starting 11 for that match but as soon as i saw the line up i knew there was no chance of winning, we were down to the bare bones with Paul Dalglish playing up front, anyone got the full line up?

Paul Dalglish. Jeezo, I forgot about him. 😄

Medals Mackay had engineered O'Connor's move to Russia just before that game too. Benji's debut.

[hibsbollah]

Hibernian: Malkowski, Whittaker, Gary Smith, Caldwell, Murphy, Sproule, Hogg, Thomson, Glass (Konte 62), Fletcher (McCluskey 82), Benjelloun (Konde 70).
Subs Not Used: Simon Brown, Shields.
Sent Off: Sproule (78), Gary Smith (88).

No Dalglish, doesn't actually look as weak a team as I remember though Fletcher must have only been about 18 I suppose.
I stayed to the end but no recollection of Gary Smith being sent off!

A horrible horrible game to experience. You just knew we had no chance, benji up front alone was suicide. Mowbray got that one wrong.

[Fife-Hibee]

At that time in 85 Aberdeen were one of the best teams in Europe. I doubt a fit Durie would have made much difference

Yeah I know what your saying. Still felt crap at the time tho :)

[Smartie]

A horrible horrible game to experience. You just knew we had no chance, benji up front alone was suicide. Mowbray got that one wrong.

The worst thing about it though was the feeling of helplessness.

Realistically, what else could Mowbray have done?

It was at a time when Hearts were strong too.

It was grim viewing, just knowing what was coming but having to go through with it anyway.

[21.05.2016]

i cant remember the starting 11 for that match but as soon as i saw the line up i knew there was no chance of winning, we were down to the bare bones with Paul Dalglish playing up front, anyone got the full line up?

I'm sure we had only just signed Benji and he started

[HibbyAndy]

1958 Scottish Cup Final v Clyde at Hampden. Andy Aitken was badly injured early in the game and Hibs effectively had to play with ten men, losing 1-0

nae subs like ?

[Sir David Gray]

nae subs like ?

Substitutes weren't allowed in Scotland until 1966.

[hibsbollah]

The worst thing about it though was the feeling of helplessness.

Realistically, what else could Mowbray have done?

It was at a time when Hearts were strong too.

It was grim viewing, just knowing what was coming but having to go through with it anyway.

I suppose so. Benji and Fletch ended up delivering a brilliant chemistry as a 442 partnership but Mowbray of course wasn't to know that when fletch was a wide midfielder and Benji just in the door.

Selling O'connor at that point was tantamount to giving up on the cup.

[Malthibby]

1973, top of the league & motoring - Brownlee got a leg break v. East Fife & Edwards got banned for 8/9/10 games. They were integral to that team.
You need luck & if we had kept that team together (think Dundee Utd winning the leaugue with a squad of 14) we could have won the league that year.
6 past Sporting Lisbon, 8 past Besa, 8 past Ayr, 7 past the roasters. We were utterly spoiled & it certainly didn't prepare us for the 80s. Or the 90s.:rolleyes:
Any factual inaccuracies due to my problem with reality.
GG

[Malthibby]

Substitutes weren't allowed in Scotland until 1966.

Did we not also lose a SC semi-final to rank underdogs (Motherwell?) because we had to play half the game with 9 players,
in a season we won the league?
Need someoen really old to confirm that.
GG

[MacGruber]

I'm sure we had only just signed Benji and he started

You can add Boozy who was our standout midfielder, Dean Sheila - when we loved him & mikey Stewart who whilst not everyone's cup of tea was our best performer in midfield at the time. Riordan was suspended, O'Connor sold and replacement Killen injured along with Brown. We were rumoured to have Brown and sheils making it only to find out never made the bench. Walked in to that stadium it was like a morgue - we were beat before a ball was kicked :(

[MacGruber]

Sheils haha

[NadeAteMyLunch!]

That 2006 semi final really made me feel as though we would be cursed in the Scottish cup for ever more. Completely abnormal amount of injuries to all our best players pretty much. Benji was a fish out of water after meeting his new teammates barely two days before the game and not having a clue yet about the pace of Scottish football, let alone an Edinburgh derby.

[G B Young]

Is it just me or does that not look like a pretty decent Hibs team? I suppose it was early on the Hibs career of a few of those players, and they went on to establish themselves later (Benji certainly). They might not have done much at that point.

IIRC Caldwell played in the "holding midfield" role in that game.

Other than Mowbray's usual choice of playing an achilles heel in goal, it doesn't look that bad.

I'm sure the team that played Livi in the League Cup final had one or two surprises in it (Alan Reid playing for Hibs in a cup final at Hamden).

On paper it might look that way, and yes Benji and Fletch went on to excel a year later in the League Cup final. However, Benji had only just signed ahead of the Hearts game and Riordan, Brown, O'Connor and Killen had all been big players in the Scottish Cup run up to that point. O'Connor and Riordan were also big derby players for Hibs. For me, selling O'Connor just before this game was a big mistake although I can only assume the big money deal depended on him moving when he did.

Overall though, as others have said, when this was the line-up we ended up having to put out we all knew we were going to get beat.

[Sir David Gray]

That 2006 semi final really made me feel as though we would be cursed in the Scottish cup for ever more. Completely abnormal amount of injuries to all our best players pretty much. Benji was a fish out of water after meeting his new teammates barely two days before the game and not having a clue yet about the pace of Scottish football, let alone an Edinburgh derby.

There was just another 10 years to wait! :greengrin

[E10 Rifle]

Aberdeen final when jukebox played thru injury I felt that buggered our chances cannae mind the year!

We wouldn't have beaten that Aberdeen side with half a dozen Jukebox's in the team. They were head and shoulders above us all over the park I'm afraid. We were never in it despite a great run to Hamden.

[Glory Lurker]

Can we leave out any further reflections on the 2006 game? This thread's brought it all back :boo hoo:

[Jonnyboy]

nae subs like ?

See below :greengrin


Substitutes weren't allowed in Scotland until 1966.

[Sergio sledge]

We wouldn't have been relegated if Hanlon hadn't got injured IMHO.

[HibeeMackenzie]

We'd have won the league last season if Fyvie never got injured away at Morton

[Leith's finest]

We wouldn't have been relegated if Hanlon hadn't got injured IMHO. would not have lost to ross county in lc final either if PH had played

[erin go bragh]

At that time in 85 Aberdeen were one of the best teams in Europe. I doubt a fit Durie would have made much difference

Gordon Rae was a bigger miss .

[ancient hibee]

1958 Scottish Cup Final v Clyde at Hampden. Andy Aitken was badly injured early in the game and Hibs effectively had to play with ten men, losing 1-0
Deliberately "injured"by Mike Clinton who had also crocked him in the league match at ER when we finished with nine men with Aitken and Preston both carried off.

[JackLadd]

If we'd been at full strength hertz would not have had it so easy in 06. We did all the hard work pumping out Rangers at Ibrox and they get lucky with our injuries vs their juiced up mercenary team that took six years to implode with a £30m CVA.

[silverhibee]

Paul Dalglish. Jeezo, I forgot about him. 😄

Medals Mackay had engineered O'Connor's move to Russia just before that game too. Benji's debut.


Don't think it was MacKay that engineered that move.

[Danderhall Hibs]

I don't think Greig Laidlaw's as big a loss as some make out.

We'll get a better scrum half in now - just need someone to step up as a goalkicker, although Laidlaw doesn't take the difficult ones anyway - he chicks it to Hogg for those.

[tamig]

You can add Boozy who was our standout midfielder, Dean Sheila - when we loved him & mikey Stewart who whilst not everyone's cup of tea was our best performer in midfield at the time. Riordan was suspended, O'Connor sold and replacement Killen injured along with Brown. We were rumoured to have Brown and sheils making it only to find out never made the bench. Walked in to that stadium it was like a morgue - we were beat before a ball was kicked :(
Absolutely. Remember hearing the team as we were walking to the ground and realising it would be some kind of miracle to even keep it close. It's one of the very few times I think I've been at a semi-final and thought we've had virtually no chance. As you say, the atmosphere in our end from the start probably showed that most of our support felt the same.

[Bishop Hibee]

I remember Derek Collins declaring himself fit for a SC semi against Aberdeen then going off after 30 mins. Totally disrupted the shape of the team and we lost 2-1. Andy Dow scored a 25 yarder with the right foot he used only for standing on when at ER.

[snooky]

2006 Semi against Hearts. If i recall right we were missing Brown, Thomson and Riordan through injury.

And Gaz through transfer. (My pride was injured)

[TRC]

Was sproule not just starting to get first team games as well? Scratch that this was after ipox

[snooky]

Thomson played that game

Am I wrong or wasn't either Deek or Broony suspended. I don't think both were injured. :dunno:
Neither were on the bench. I saw them in the stand eating hamburgers.

[silverhibee]

Am I wrong or wasn't either Deek or Broony suspended. I don't think both were injured. :dunno:
Neither were on the bench. I saw them in the stand eating hamburgers.

Deek was suspended.

[Viva_Palmeiras]

Paul Wrights leg broken by Berry. Was lively enough that game to halt their record.

[Tyler Durden]

The worst thing about it though was the feeling of helplessness.

Realistically, what else could Mowbray have done?

It was at a time when Hearts were strong too.

It was grim viewing, just knowing what was coming but having to go through with it anyway.

On reflection Mowbray could've taken a very different approach. He had Caldwell at RB and Whittaker right midfield. With Sproule supporting Benji up front it was a makeshift and wide open 4-4-2.

He could've included the guy Konde, gone 3-5-2, played Konte up front... he caused them problems at Tynecastle the previous season. Seemed like Mowbray gave up before the game

Apparently Mikey Stewart pulled out with a non existent injury too. Didn't help matters

EDIT - the fact I'm advocating playing Konte does show it was desperate times! But my point is more it would've been better to go defensive and play for a replay

[1two]

Slightly different but Russel Latapy getting sacked after going on the piss with Dwight Yorke scuppered any chance we had in 2001 final.

In all honesty that was probably the best Celtic side in recent times and our chances were slim to nil anyway.

[G B Young]

Gordon Rae was a bigger miss .

That's right, Rae was a big miss and I think Aberdeen scored two very early goals with near identical headers to effectively kill off the game. We were never going to win against that Aberdeen side, but Rae might have calmed the defence a bit.

Not long before that, another player whose absence was felt was Bobby Thomson. He'd been a good partner for Willie Irvine in a desperately mediocre team, enabling Willie to score over 20 goals and get touted for a Scotland call-up. It wasn't an injury that scuppered things though...it was an infamous shove on a linesman who wrongly flagged for offside in a game against St Johnstone (which we won 4-1 I recall). Bobby got a six-month ban and Willie never repeated his high-scoring feats.

[ancient hibee]

I don't think Greig Laidlaw's as big a loss as some make out.

We'll get a better scrum half in now - just need someone to step up as a goalkicker, although Laidlaw doesn't take the difficult ones anyway - he chicks it to Hogg for those.
No Hogg takes the long ones which require a bit more beef.Laidlaw takes the difficult ones which are of course from out wide.Incidentally none of the Scottish scrum halves are anywhere near Laidlaws standard.This is why Russell's game goes to pieces when anyone else comes in.

[G B Young]

Paul Wrights leg broken by Berry. Was lively enough that game to halt their record.

Forgot about that one. Yes, he looking like a great signing before that happened. Never really got going with Hibs again afterwards.

It was a shocking tackle.

[G B Young]

No Hogg takes the long ones which require a bit more beef.Laidlaw takes the difficult ones which are of course from out wide.Incidentally none of the Scottish scrum halves are anywhere near Laidlaws standard.This is why Russell's game goes to pieces when anyone else comes in.

Laidlaw's a class act and a really good captain. Some of the angles he finds with his kicking are awesome.

[Danderhall Hibs]

No Hogg takes the long ones which require a bit more beef.Laidlaw takes the difficult ones which are of course from out wide.Incidentally none of the Scottish scrum halves are anywhere near Laidlaws standard.This is why Russell's game goes to pieces when anyone else comes in.

We don't really know if his game goes to pieces do we? Laidlaw hardly ever gets replaced due to his kicking accuracy. Russell plays better with quick ball, which is what Price gives him week in and week out.

Agree the ones out wide can be difficult, but the kicks from 40 metres plus must be more difficult or he would attempt to kick them as well? :wink:

We need a goalkicker that can take all kicks well - not just some of them.

[Danderhall Hibs]

Laidlaw's a class act and a really good captain. Some of the angles he finds with his kicking are awesome.

Same angles all the other top kickers find - just from closer in?

[G B Young]

Same angles all the other top kickers find - just from closer in?

True enough. I just feel he carries a big-game presence about him and has the right mentality as well as ability to play a key role in a Scotland team which finally looks like it can compete again.

[AgentDaleCooper]

pretty sure griffiths was crocked, despite playing through the 2013 final

[ancient hibee]

We don't really know if his game goes to pieces do we? Laidlaw hardly ever gets replaced due to his kicking accuracy. Russell plays better with quick ball, which is what Price gives him week in and week out.

Agree the ones out wide can be difficult, but the kicks from 40 metres plus must be more difficult or he would attempt to kick them as well? :wink:

We need a goalkicker that can take all kicks well - not just some of them.

Price and Russell were shambolic against France.Everything was rushed when there was no need to force the game.We would have won if we had kept hold of the ball.Price won't start against Wales.
The ones out wide are more difficult because most kickers favour one foot and therefore the angle from one side is more difficult than the other.Long ones are more good timing with additional beef:greengrin

[A Hi-Bee]

1973, top of the league & motoring - Brownlee got a leg break v. East Fife & Edwards got banned for 8/9/10 games. They were integral to that team.
You need luck & if we had kept that team together (think Dundee Utd winning the leaugue with a squad of 14) we could have won the league that year.
6 past Sporting Lisbon, 8 past Besa, 8 past Ayr, 7 past the roasters. We were utterly spoiled & it certainly didn't prepare us for the 80s. Or the 90s.:rolleyes:
Any factual inaccuracies due to my problem with reality.
GG

Couple of years before then if memory serves we had the old Huns at Easter Road in League cup quarters and with close to 50,000 in the ground they went about it to crock John Blackley as soon as they could, he went off and we got beat 1-0 they knew he was carrying a slight injury or just coming back from one and this was just so blatant and normal for the times with the GFA.

Could go back a bit further and mention the celtic game at Easter Road when Hughes got away wi breaking Bobby Duncans leg, just as we were beginning to show a bit of form.

[ancient hibee]

Couple of years before then if memory serves we had the old Huns at Easter Road in League cup quarters and with close to 50,000 in the ground they went about it to crock John Blackley as soon as they could, he went off and we got beat 1-0 they knew he was carrying a slight injury or just coming back from one and this was just so blatant and normal for the times with the GFA.

Could go back a bit further and mention the celtic game at Easter Road when Hughes got away wi breaking Bobby Duncans leg, just as we were beginning to show a bit of form.
Yes the Bobby Duncan leg break was a deliberate foul though Hughes tried to say it was a forward's tackle.The unfortunate thing about Brownlie was that he really just pushed the ball to far and lost control of it.

[KWJ]

The worst thing about it though was the feeling of helplessness.

Realistically, what else could Mowbray have done?

It was at a time when Hearts were strong too.

It was grim viewing, just knowing what was coming but having to go through with it anyway.

Indeed.

The team sheet came out and none of our hopes made it. Then they were singing their homophobic ditty at full voice while we had plenty empty seats. All round horrible day.

I'll throw in Derek Collins going off injured in the Aberdeen semi in 2000. Lovell ended up playing right back, or was it McGinley? Either way, we didn't deal with it and Andy Dow punished us.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Yeh, we have had our share of bad luck in big games and vital times in the league season. As somebody else said 3 fit Gordon Juries wouldn't have made much difference in the 85 League cup final, Aberdeen were just too good for us and pretty well everybody else in those days.

The 2001 and 2013 cup finals are real stand outs .... Latapy getting the boot and Sauzee clearly not being fit did for us and Griffiths should never even have taken the field in 2013, it showed how desperate we were in all honesty.

I don't know about anybody else but I'm starting to get a bit of deja vu when it comes to our situation now ..... we are fast approaching the business end of the season and we are a baw hair away from being able to open up a significant gap, making Saturday a vital game in our season, so what do the fates do, they chuck in a cup tie with the Yams to complicate matters and hand out injuries to 3 of our 4 centre backs. Its going to be a real test of our squad .... if we can get results in the next two games the team and manager will deserve every bit of praise that comes their way IMO.

Being a chap who has a thing about signs and omens I'm heartened to see that this is post number 7602 for me, any number containing 70 and 62 in any combination has to be good .............. doesn't it? :greengrin

[MM19]

Did Ferguson no break Alec Cropley's ankle at Brockville before the 1972 cup final.

[Humo]

Not sure if it's been said but Hanlon's injury scuppered our hopes of staying in the premiership

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