Jonnyboy
02-12-2017, 07:42 PM
I’m not entirely sure why, but I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Partick Thistle. Perhaps it’s the fact that they have a small but loyal support, when the pull of following either Celtic or The Rangers must be so strong? Regardless, there were around 3,000 or so of them in attendance today and they must be a worried bunch because although they play some neat football, they are quite toothless up front. Rocky had two or three good saves but I have to say I couldn’t see them scoring, despite trying out various different strike combinations during the game. Our back three and then four were excellent and big Daz looked like he’d never been away after a slightly hesitant first ten minutes.
Ahead of the game, there was some debate about who would replace the suspended John McGinn and would a place be made available for the in favour again Anthony Stokes. The answer to those queries was the predictable inclusion of Slivka in the midfield and the equally predictable inclusion of Stokes in the front two with Simon Murray as Neil Lennon opted to go with three at the back and have Boyler and Lewis as the wingbacks. My brother suggested that with the midfield we had, there was no obvious player capable of taking on the McGinn surges forward with the ball and so it proved to be.
The first half wasn’t great with the hosts creating a couple of good chances only to be thwarted by Rocky who made excellent saves for both efforts. Boyler and Lewis tried to get forward when the chance arose but though each took a shot of being unmarked in acres of space, none of our midfielders could pick them out. Even the creativity of Dylan failed to create a spark and in truth the half time whistle was a welcome sound when it came.
When the players came out for the second half there was a bizarre moment when Neil Lennon got his players into a huddle inside their own half to impart some final words of wisdom. Those words had an almost instant effect when Boyler took possession of the ball just inside the Thistle half and went scampering towards goal with defenders in his wake. Just before he reached the Thistle box, Ross Turnbull hacked him down and got a booking for his troubles in doing so. Twenty or so yards out and set up for a left foot strike at goal, both Lewis and Stokesy stood over the ball. The latter shot straight at the wall and when Lewis picked up the rebound, his curling left foot cross skimmed the head of Adam Barton and landed in the corner of the net with Cerny flat footed. It was technically an own goal but the Hibs players mobbed Lewis to celebrate.
Hibs were dominant now and should have increased their lead as they had numerous chances to do just that. Stokes rounded the keeper but the angle was too tight for a shot so he fed Slivka eight yards out but the Lithuanian elected to pass sideways to Boyler when a shot at goal would almost certainly have gone in. Further chances fell to both Boyler and Efe but the one nil lead was still in force as Thistle made a series of changes to try and rescue something from the game. In response, Neil Lennon reverted to a back four with Efe on the right and Lewis on the left. It proved a wise move and blunted Thistle as an attacking force with our forwards and midfielders pressing Thistle high and forcing them to go long.
At the final whistle, Neil Lennon turned to the huge travelling support of around 1,900 fans and gave them a fist pump salute while the players showed obvious delight after consoling their opponents and going to the Hibs fans to acknowledge their backing. Result wise it was a good start to what is going to be a very challenging month but maintaining an astonishing away record and finishing the day in third place, just a point behind Aberdeen must surely breed confidence in the ranks. Next week we face a rampant Celtic and who knows, maybe we can cut the points deficit to five!
The players
Rocky – had three excellent saves and looked as safe as houses throughout.
Efe – the guy just never looks flustered defensively and he made a couple of excellent forays forward in the second half.
Big Daz – as I said earlier, Daz looked a wee bit off the pace in the first ten minutes but once he’d settled down he was magnificent, not giving any of a variety of Thistle strikers any leeway at all.
Paul – surely he is in the best form of his life right now as once again he strolled through this game, defending well, making telling forward passes and even executing a couple of one-two’s on the edge of the thistle box.
Boyler – another in brilliant form, Neil Lennon in his post-match interview described Boyler as one of the best players in the league right now and to be honest, it’s hard to disagree.
Marv – the big fella is there to protect the back line and to break up the oppositions play in midfield and today he did both with some aplomb.
Slivka – for ages I’ve been saying we’ll see the best of Slivka when he plays centrally. The absence of McGinn gave Slivka the chance to make his case but sadly he was largely ineffective in my view. To his credit he doesn’t hide and is always willing to show for the ball but I expected more from him.
Dylan – suffered a few knocks again today and deserved better protection from the referee but that aside I felt this was one of Dylan’s quieter performances. In the past I’ve suggested he dallies on the ball too much at times and I feel he was very guilty of that today.
Lewis – the wee man has taken some criticism in recent weeks, some of it deserved and some of it just miles off the mark but I thought he was excellent today, both at wingback and then left back. The goal came because he delivered a telling cross into a difficult area and a later pass flew across the six yard box just waiting to be tapped in. With others coming close, I’ve opted for Lewis as my man of the match.
Simon – I really like Simon but he wasn’t at his best today. Seemed unable to gather the ball in at times and frequently couldn’t get it under his control. He’ll have better games for Hibs, I’m sure.
Stokesy – after all the shenanigans of the last week or so I thought we might see a hungry, energetic and creative Stokes today but we got none of those as I thought he was flat throughout. I’m aware there are Hibs fans who won’t hear a bad word said about him but as one of those fans, I offer the opinion that he was miles off where he should be.
Oli – came on for Simon with a good twenty-five minutes left and didn’t let himself down. Great first touch, great turn of speed and perhaps best of all, given that some say he is too lightweight at the moment, he was totally unfazed at playing up against two very solid and physical central defenders.
Brandon – got the last fifteen minutes or so, replacing Stokes but once again failed to really impress going forward and was so slow in chasing back he was no help to Lewis on the left side. I quite like Barker but he’s miles behind Boyler in terms of a wide threat to defences.
Big Dave – got his obligatory thirty seconds and was ‘meticulous’ throughout.
Neil Lennon – from my vantage point in the stand with loads of pillars I was able to watch Neil quite a lot during the game. The man must be exhausted at the end of games because he is animated throughout and not afraid to let the object of his ire know his feelings. A number of players got the treatment, especially Stokesy who clearly wasn’t doing enough for the manager and was subbed as a result. It’s great, if still a little strange, to hear Hibs fans singing “There’s only one Neil Lennon” given his lack of popularity when he was Celtic’s gaffer but I’ll tell you what, I’m more than happy to sing that long and loud as I reckon we’ve got the right man to lead us onwards and upwards.
The ref
A strange performance from Thomson as he only really rattled the Hibs fans on a handful of occasions. I’d like to see the challenge on Boyler in the second half again because I don’t think the defender got anywhere near the ball with his sliding challenge.
The fans – once again we turned out in huge numbers and once again the Since 1875 group offered loud and encouraging support. Some great ‘new’ songs involving Boyler and Marv! Keep up the good work.
Ahead of the game, there was some debate about who would replace the suspended John McGinn and would a place be made available for the in favour again Anthony Stokes. The answer to those queries was the predictable inclusion of Slivka in the midfield and the equally predictable inclusion of Stokes in the front two with Simon Murray as Neil Lennon opted to go with three at the back and have Boyler and Lewis as the wingbacks. My brother suggested that with the midfield we had, there was no obvious player capable of taking on the McGinn surges forward with the ball and so it proved to be.
The first half wasn’t great with the hosts creating a couple of good chances only to be thwarted by Rocky who made excellent saves for both efforts. Boyler and Lewis tried to get forward when the chance arose but though each took a shot of being unmarked in acres of space, none of our midfielders could pick them out. Even the creativity of Dylan failed to create a spark and in truth the half time whistle was a welcome sound when it came.
When the players came out for the second half there was a bizarre moment when Neil Lennon got his players into a huddle inside their own half to impart some final words of wisdom. Those words had an almost instant effect when Boyler took possession of the ball just inside the Thistle half and went scampering towards goal with defenders in his wake. Just before he reached the Thistle box, Ross Turnbull hacked him down and got a booking for his troubles in doing so. Twenty or so yards out and set up for a left foot strike at goal, both Lewis and Stokesy stood over the ball. The latter shot straight at the wall and when Lewis picked up the rebound, his curling left foot cross skimmed the head of Adam Barton and landed in the corner of the net with Cerny flat footed. It was technically an own goal but the Hibs players mobbed Lewis to celebrate.
Hibs were dominant now and should have increased their lead as they had numerous chances to do just that. Stokes rounded the keeper but the angle was too tight for a shot so he fed Slivka eight yards out but the Lithuanian elected to pass sideways to Boyler when a shot at goal would almost certainly have gone in. Further chances fell to both Boyler and Efe but the one nil lead was still in force as Thistle made a series of changes to try and rescue something from the game. In response, Neil Lennon reverted to a back four with Efe on the right and Lewis on the left. It proved a wise move and blunted Thistle as an attacking force with our forwards and midfielders pressing Thistle high and forcing them to go long.
At the final whistle, Neil Lennon turned to the huge travelling support of around 1,900 fans and gave them a fist pump salute while the players showed obvious delight after consoling their opponents and going to the Hibs fans to acknowledge their backing. Result wise it was a good start to what is going to be a very challenging month but maintaining an astonishing away record and finishing the day in third place, just a point behind Aberdeen must surely breed confidence in the ranks. Next week we face a rampant Celtic and who knows, maybe we can cut the points deficit to five!
The players
Rocky – had three excellent saves and looked as safe as houses throughout.
Efe – the guy just never looks flustered defensively and he made a couple of excellent forays forward in the second half.
Big Daz – as I said earlier, Daz looked a wee bit off the pace in the first ten minutes but once he’d settled down he was magnificent, not giving any of a variety of Thistle strikers any leeway at all.
Paul – surely he is in the best form of his life right now as once again he strolled through this game, defending well, making telling forward passes and even executing a couple of one-two’s on the edge of the thistle box.
Boyler – another in brilliant form, Neil Lennon in his post-match interview described Boyler as one of the best players in the league right now and to be honest, it’s hard to disagree.
Marv – the big fella is there to protect the back line and to break up the oppositions play in midfield and today he did both with some aplomb.
Slivka – for ages I’ve been saying we’ll see the best of Slivka when he plays centrally. The absence of McGinn gave Slivka the chance to make his case but sadly he was largely ineffective in my view. To his credit he doesn’t hide and is always willing to show for the ball but I expected more from him.
Dylan – suffered a few knocks again today and deserved better protection from the referee but that aside I felt this was one of Dylan’s quieter performances. In the past I’ve suggested he dallies on the ball too much at times and I feel he was very guilty of that today.
Lewis – the wee man has taken some criticism in recent weeks, some of it deserved and some of it just miles off the mark but I thought he was excellent today, both at wingback and then left back. The goal came because he delivered a telling cross into a difficult area and a later pass flew across the six yard box just waiting to be tapped in. With others coming close, I’ve opted for Lewis as my man of the match.
Simon – I really like Simon but he wasn’t at his best today. Seemed unable to gather the ball in at times and frequently couldn’t get it under his control. He’ll have better games for Hibs, I’m sure.
Stokesy – after all the shenanigans of the last week or so I thought we might see a hungry, energetic and creative Stokes today but we got none of those as I thought he was flat throughout. I’m aware there are Hibs fans who won’t hear a bad word said about him but as one of those fans, I offer the opinion that he was miles off where he should be.
Oli – came on for Simon with a good twenty-five minutes left and didn’t let himself down. Great first touch, great turn of speed and perhaps best of all, given that some say he is too lightweight at the moment, he was totally unfazed at playing up against two very solid and physical central defenders.
Brandon – got the last fifteen minutes or so, replacing Stokes but once again failed to really impress going forward and was so slow in chasing back he was no help to Lewis on the left side. I quite like Barker but he’s miles behind Boyler in terms of a wide threat to defences.
Big Dave – got his obligatory thirty seconds and was ‘meticulous’ throughout.
Neil Lennon – from my vantage point in the stand with loads of pillars I was able to watch Neil quite a lot during the game. The man must be exhausted at the end of games because he is animated throughout and not afraid to let the object of his ire know his feelings. A number of players got the treatment, especially Stokesy who clearly wasn’t doing enough for the manager and was subbed as a result. It’s great, if still a little strange, to hear Hibs fans singing “There’s only one Neil Lennon” given his lack of popularity when he was Celtic’s gaffer but I’ll tell you what, I’m more than happy to sing that long and loud as I reckon we’ve got the right man to lead us onwards and upwards.
The ref
A strange performance from Thomson as he only really rattled the Hibs fans on a handful of occasions. I’d like to see the challenge on Boyler in the second half again because I don’t think the defender got anywhere near the ball with his sliding challenge.
The fans – once again we turned out in huge numbers and once again the Since 1875 group offered loud and encouraging support. Some great ‘new’ songs involving Boyler and Marv! Keep up the good work.