Jonnyboy
27-12-2017, 10:58 PM
I guess I’m like any other Hibs fan when it comes to matches against Hearts in that I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love it when we win and hate it when we lose but tonight, as I approached the revamped Wongadome for the first time I was confident we’d get a result. As I expected, Barker dropped out and was replaced by Bartley, the only change from the Ross County starting eleven. Taking my seat in the dilapidated Roseburn Stand I saw for myself the horrendous playing surface and immediately felt sorry for our guys as running with the ball and passing it along the ground would be well-nigh impossible and so it proved to be for the most part.
Ahead of kick off I watched with interest as the players went through their warm up exercises and had a wee smile to myself when the coaches had a chat and decided that for the shooting in practice they’d use the actual goals instead of the set off to the side of the pitch. The Hearts groundsman was not amused. Presumably he wasn’t at Easter Road when Hearts pulled exactly the same trick.
The Hibs end was filling nicely, as was the new super duper megastructure of their new single tier, main stand. I call it the main stand despite the fact that the players would enter the field of play from the opposite stand and like at Dumbarton the coaches, physio’s etc., would need to trudge across the pitch to the dugouts. I also clocked the position of the press/media area which, quite frankly, is a joke as it is far too low down. Finally, I looked along to the big green box that caused some fans to buy tickets with a restricted view and frankly, Hearts have a cheek selling tickets for them. I was sitting slap bang in the centre, behind the goals in row 10, which is the second one up from the walkway and I too had a restricted view due to the railings which restricted a clear view of the goals.
In terms of the game I thought Hibs started very brightly whilst Hearts played according to Levein’s script by hoofing the ball forward. To be fair, hoofing the ball was the second option with the first being to make sure they clattered into Hibs players, McGinn in particular, at every opportunity. On the front foot, Hibs scored a perfectly good goal after seven minutes when McGinn fed Boyle on the right. Boyler crossed low into the box and the alert Oli Shaw got in front of Souttar to fire the ball towards goal. The ball struck the underside of the bar and bounced down inside the net before the spin sent it back into the arms of the Hearts keeper. For the second time in recent memory, a goal against Hearts had not been given due to inept decisions by the officials. It’s hard to understand why the assistant referee didn’t see it but then it was also hard to see why Raymond Whyte, the referee’s assistant missed the Sparky one some time ago.
We were then ‘treated’ to a series of fouls against Hibs players with Lafferty, Walker and Milinkovic all booked before half time. It has to be said that Walker was a very lucky boy because just minutes after being booked he then committed an even worse foul on a Hibs player but Steven McLean failed to punish it with the card it deserved.
Time and again as Hibs broke forward, Boyle and Stokes were guilty of being caught offside. There must have been seven or eight occasions when that happened and Boyle in particular disappointed because had he held the line he had the pace to beat both Berra and Souttar. Neil Lennon switched Boyle to the left after noticing what was pretty obvious from the off in that their right back, Randall looked overweight, unfit, slow and cumbersome. As half time approached I thought that any Hibs fan casting their eye at the other three stands would see a sea of Adam’s apples as the locals looked skywards hoping the ball might fall to one of their players.
Shortly after the restart, Efe was skinned by Walker down the left and his ball into the middle witnessed a real sclaff by Lafferty who screwed the ball a mile wide causing howls of disappointment from the home support. On the subject of Walker and the home support it was quite comforting to watch Walker, Hearts’ biggest sellable asset at a massive £300k, be pretty ineffective throughout. The home support, in the supposed cauldron of noise we are told that Tynecastle is, were largely quiet throughout, the loudest noise coming when a Hibs player made a mistake.
The second half didn’t really match up to the first with constant breaks in play following fouls and numerous visits onto the pitch by both physio’s. It has to be said the Hibs man was the busiest as Hearts continued to clatter into Hibs players, mostly without punishment by the referee. A case in point was the injury to Barker who was tackled aggressively and though the Hearts man got the ball he also followed through on the man, leaving the Hibs player in a heap on the grass and after struggling on for a few minutes caused him to have to be replaced.
With about ten minutes left I thought we’d won it when McLaughlin diverted a cross towards Hanlon but sadly Paul could not adjust his body shape in time to score yet another vital goal at Tynecastle. Near the end the home fans screamed for a penalty when they felt Lewis had used an arm in the box but it was at the other end from me so I’ve no idea if it was justified.
The players
Rocky – was largely redundant although he did flap at one cross in the second half when catching the ball looked to be the easier choice.
Efe – much better than against Ross County and only really got caught out the once when Walker skinned him.
Daz – handled the ‘physicality’ of Lafferty very well and rarely lost a challenge in the air.
Paul – solid as ever, I feel his partnership with Daz is excellent. Paul’s reading of the game allows him to mop up, should Daz be guilty of any slack play.
Lewis – another fine performance from Lewis and I feared for him when he was scythed down in a challenge that went unpunished. Lewis rarely stays down and when he did I thought the injury might be quite serious.
Boyler – had the beating of the Hearts left back but annoyingly kept going too soon for the ball over the top. His square ball to Shaw for the ‘goal’ was spot on. Took a battering and eventually limped off in the second half.
Dylan – started the game very well and showed throughout that the physical stuff doesn’t bother him anymore. Has this fantastic ability to nick the ball off the toes of opponents and his all-round display tonight earns him my man of the match award.
Marv – plays a role that rarely gets noticed but does it very well. There was no way a physical Hearts side was ever going to faze him and given some of the challenges by Hearts players I thought Marv was very unlucky to be booked for a pretty innocuous challenge.
SJM – the laddie took some terrible punishment tonight but he just kept getting up and getting on with it. Hearts had three men on him at times and had he been just a little quicker releasing the ball he could have set a team mate free.
Stokesy – I had hoped that he’d turn in a performance like the one at Ross County and although he didn’t do a lot wrong, he didn’t quite shine at any time.
Oli – I’m told Berra got man of the match from the Hearts mob but to me he struggled with Oli, especially in the first half when the youngster did very well taking the ball in and bringing other players into the game. Was robbed of a famous goal.
Simon – ran about a lot but little else of note. Needs to get himself in the box more often, like he did in his earlier games for Hibs.
Brandon – clearly seen as a threat by the Hearts hammer throwers as he lasted only twelve minutes before being clattered and had to be replaced.
Big Dave – never thought I’d see big Dave tonight and for what it’s worth I thought he did ok in winning headers but sadly neither Murray nor Stokes anticipated him winning it and failed to move into a position to receive the ball.
The ref – has to accept responsibility along with his assistant for missing a goal that should have stood. Also I felt he was far too lenient on ‘elbows’ Lafferty and especially Walker who should have seen red.
Neil – was quick to come to applaud the fans and hold up ten fingers, confirming that for the next Derby we can sing ‘Here we go, ten in a row.’ Didn’t hear his after match interview but I’ll bet he was raging about the ‘goal’ and rightly so.
A final thought – I’ve witnessed many Derby matches over the years and I have to say that is one of the worst Hearts teams I’ve ever seen. They offer nothing, except physicality and I sincerely hope the next time we meet them, in the Cup, we give them a hiding.
Ahead of kick off I watched with interest as the players went through their warm up exercises and had a wee smile to myself when the coaches had a chat and decided that for the shooting in practice they’d use the actual goals instead of the set off to the side of the pitch. The Hearts groundsman was not amused. Presumably he wasn’t at Easter Road when Hearts pulled exactly the same trick.
The Hibs end was filling nicely, as was the new super duper megastructure of their new single tier, main stand. I call it the main stand despite the fact that the players would enter the field of play from the opposite stand and like at Dumbarton the coaches, physio’s etc., would need to trudge across the pitch to the dugouts. I also clocked the position of the press/media area which, quite frankly, is a joke as it is far too low down. Finally, I looked along to the big green box that caused some fans to buy tickets with a restricted view and frankly, Hearts have a cheek selling tickets for them. I was sitting slap bang in the centre, behind the goals in row 10, which is the second one up from the walkway and I too had a restricted view due to the railings which restricted a clear view of the goals.
In terms of the game I thought Hibs started very brightly whilst Hearts played according to Levein’s script by hoofing the ball forward. To be fair, hoofing the ball was the second option with the first being to make sure they clattered into Hibs players, McGinn in particular, at every opportunity. On the front foot, Hibs scored a perfectly good goal after seven minutes when McGinn fed Boyle on the right. Boyler crossed low into the box and the alert Oli Shaw got in front of Souttar to fire the ball towards goal. The ball struck the underside of the bar and bounced down inside the net before the spin sent it back into the arms of the Hearts keeper. For the second time in recent memory, a goal against Hearts had not been given due to inept decisions by the officials. It’s hard to understand why the assistant referee didn’t see it but then it was also hard to see why Raymond Whyte, the referee’s assistant missed the Sparky one some time ago.
We were then ‘treated’ to a series of fouls against Hibs players with Lafferty, Walker and Milinkovic all booked before half time. It has to be said that Walker was a very lucky boy because just minutes after being booked he then committed an even worse foul on a Hibs player but Steven McLean failed to punish it with the card it deserved.
Time and again as Hibs broke forward, Boyle and Stokes were guilty of being caught offside. There must have been seven or eight occasions when that happened and Boyle in particular disappointed because had he held the line he had the pace to beat both Berra and Souttar. Neil Lennon switched Boyle to the left after noticing what was pretty obvious from the off in that their right back, Randall looked overweight, unfit, slow and cumbersome. As half time approached I thought that any Hibs fan casting their eye at the other three stands would see a sea of Adam’s apples as the locals looked skywards hoping the ball might fall to one of their players.
Shortly after the restart, Efe was skinned by Walker down the left and his ball into the middle witnessed a real sclaff by Lafferty who screwed the ball a mile wide causing howls of disappointment from the home support. On the subject of Walker and the home support it was quite comforting to watch Walker, Hearts’ biggest sellable asset at a massive £300k, be pretty ineffective throughout. The home support, in the supposed cauldron of noise we are told that Tynecastle is, were largely quiet throughout, the loudest noise coming when a Hibs player made a mistake.
The second half didn’t really match up to the first with constant breaks in play following fouls and numerous visits onto the pitch by both physio’s. It has to be said the Hibs man was the busiest as Hearts continued to clatter into Hibs players, mostly without punishment by the referee. A case in point was the injury to Barker who was tackled aggressively and though the Hearts man got the ball he also followed through on the man, leaving the Hibs player in a heap on the grass and after struggling on for a few minutes caused him to have to be replaced.
With about ten minutes left I thought we’d won it when McLaughlin diverted a cross towards Hanlon but sadly Paul could not adjust his body shape in time to score yet another vital goal at Tynecastle. Near the end the home fans screamed for a penalty when they felt Lewis had used an arm in the box but it was at the other end from me so I’ve no idea if it was justified.
The players
Rocky – was largely redundant although he did flap at one cross in the second half when catching the ball looked to be the easier choice.
Efe – much better than against Ross County and only really got caught out the once when Walker skinned him.
Daz – handled the ‘physicality’ of Lafferty very well and rarely lost a challenge in the air.
Paul – solid as ever, I feel his partnership with Daz is excellent. Paul’s reading of the game allows him to mop up, should Daz be guilty of any slack play.
Lewis – another fine performance from Lewis and I feared for him when he was scythed down in a challenge that went unpunished. Lewis rarely stays down and when he did I thought the injury might be quite serious.
Boyler – had the beating of the Hearts left back but annoyingly kept going too soon for the ball over the top. His square ball to Shaw for the ‘goal’ was spot on. Took a battering and eventually limped off in the second half.
Dylan – started the game very well and showed throughout that the physical stuff doesn’t bother him anymore. Has this fantastic ability to nick the ball off the toes of opponents and his all-round display tonight earns him my man of the match award.
Marv – plays a role that rarely gets noticed but does it very well. There was no way a physical Hearts side was ever going to faze him and given some of the challenges by Hearts players I thought Marv was very unlucky to be booked for a pretty innocuous challenge.
SJM – the laddie took some terrible punishment tonight but he just kept getting up and getting on with it. Hearts had three men on him at times and had he been just a little quicker releasing the ball he could have set a team mate free.
Stokesy – I had hoped that he’d turn in a performance like the one at Ross County and although he didn’t do a lot wrong, he didn’t quite shine at any time.
Oli – I’m told Berra got man of the match from the Hearts mob but to me he struggled with Oli, especially in the first half when the youngster did very well taking the ball in and bringing other players into the game. Was robbed of a famous goal.
Simon – ran about a lot but little else of note. Needs to get himself in the box more often, like he did in his earlier games for Hibs.
Brandon – clearly seen as a threat by the Hearts hammer throwers as he lasted only twelve minutes before being clattered and had to be replaced.
Big Dave – never thought I’d see big Dave tonight and for what it’s worth I thought he did ok in winning headers but sadly neither Murray nor Stokes anticipated him winning it and failed to move into a position to receive the ball.
The ref – has to accept responsibility along with his assistant for missing a goal that should have stood. Also I felt he was far too lenient on ‘elbows’ Lafferty and especially Walker who should have seen red.
Neil – was quick to come to applaud the fans and hold up ten fingers, confirming that for the next Derby we can sing ‘Here we go, ten in a row.’ Didn’t hear his after match interview but I’ll bet he was raging about the ‘goal’ and rightly so.
A final thought – I’ve witnessed many Derby matches over the years and I have to say that is one of the worst Hearts teams I’ve ever seen. They offer nothing, except physicality and I sincerely hope the next time we meet them, in the Cup, we give them a hiding.