Jonnyboy
03-04-2019, 10:27 PM
I was looking forward to tonight’s game as matches between Hibs and Killie have been really entertaining these past few years. Sadly the game fell way short of expectations in terms of goalmouth action with neither goalkeeper beaten. On a cold, damp night these teams basically cancelled each other out as both determined to get every man behind the ball when not in possession. I’m an upbeat kinda person and so I’ll try to dwell on the positives and there were some despite the lack of goals.
Still unbeaten In the league since his arrival, Paul Heckingbottom made just the one change to his starting eleven with Slivka brought into the midfield, Milligan moved to centre back and Darren McGregor dropped to the bench. I wondered whether Daz wasn’t able to play two games in a short space of time because for me he was immense against Livingston and surely wasn’t dropped due to his performance.
The game started slowly and in truth it never really gathered any speed from the first whistle to the last. A good twenty five minutes had elapsed before the first real effort on goal and even then calling it an effort is being complimentary because Broadfoot’s shot was miles wide of the target. On the subject of Mulumbu I felt he was a lucky boy not to be red carded. A foul on Mallan in the first half and a shocker of a tackle on Omeonga in the second brought only one yellow from Steven McLean and that was for the Omeonga challenge. Mulumbu and Omeonga had earlier exchanged words and the odd shove and so it was always going to be that the on-loan Celtic man would take out the Hibs player when the chance arose.
It took Hibs thirty minutes to trouble the Killie goalie and that came after Hibs won possession near their own corner flag before cleverly passing their way to the other end of the park. It was a good move but ended when the strangely subdued Daryl Horgan forced Bachmann to tip his effort over the bar for a corner.
The first half hadn’t been great but that was due in no small part to the efficiency of both defences. Hanlon and Milligan had a pretty easy time of it as the Killie strikers offered no physical challenge of note and so it was no surprise when Kris Boyd came on for the second half. Killie started brightly without really causing any trouble to the Hibs goal before Stevie Mallan hit a long distance daisy cutter but it didn’t really trouble Bachmann who was able to collect the ball with ease. Soon after that a woeful pass by Paul Hanlon landed at the feet of Jordan Jones who raced in on goal and unleashed a pile driver of a shot which Marciano brilliantly saved with a strong right hand.
The congested midfield ensured some pretty meaty challenges going in and referee Steven McLean was busy with his yellow card, with Tshibola lucky not to see red for a challenge that saw him catch Mallan in the chest with a high boot.
With around fifteen minutes left, Shaw replaced the out of touch Kamberi and very nearly weighed in with a goal when a lovely cross from Lewis Stevenson allowed Oli to send a header just wide of goal. At the other end, Hibs made a hash of clearing a corner and the ball reached the normally deadly Boyd just a few yards out but he screwed his shot wide.
In truth a draw was a fair result. If anything I felt both teams showed the other too much respect but at the end of the day we kept a clean sheet and in doing so secured a top six finish. If and it’s a big if we can turn Hearts over on Saturday we’ll leapfrog them into fifth going into the final round of games. Just a few short weeks ago that seemed highly unlikely and so great credit is due to the players and coaches for achieving their first target with a game to spare.
The players
Rocky – Other than his stunning save from Jones he had very little to worry him and never really looked like he might concede.
SDG – Solid as ever though I felt he didn’t get forward quite as much as usual.
Milli – I know I said he was little troubled in the first half but that was as much due to his reading of the game as anything else. Even the introduction of a much more physical presence in the shape of Kris Boyd didn’t faze him and nor did being moved into midfield for the last half hour. Milli gets my man of the match award tonight.
Paul – Other than that quite horrendous pass that went straight to Jones I felt he was fine tonight although he didn’t break out from the back as often as he has done in recent weeks.
Lewis – Voted sponsors man of the match and he wasn’t far behind Milli in my award too. Defended really well and got down the left more often that SDG did in the right.
Daryl – So far off it tonight I was stunned he lasted as long as he did. There’s a player in there but that player simply didn’t turn up tonight.
Viki – Like Horgan, Viki wasn’t really at it tonight although the fact we were outnumbered in midfield for large parts of the game may have been part of the reason.
Stevie – Played far too deep for me. If he and Slivka are to start I’d switch their roles as Mallan offers a real goal threat which is not the case with Slivka.
Stephane – Flitted in and out of things a bit but when he gets involved he’s exciting to watch. I’m guessing he won’t be on Mulumbu’s Christmas card list though.
Flo – Playing him wide left did not work tonight and even when he moved into a more central position for the second half his contribution was pretty poor and it didn’t surprise me when he was replaced by Oli Shaw.
Sparky – The goals have dried up for the moment but then he was so isolated in the first half and double marked in the second it’s no surprise he didn’t score tonight.
Daz – Won just about every header and was the perfect foil to deny the bustling Kris Boyd the freedom to boss our defenders.
Oli – Was unlucky with that header and had been equally unlucky minutes earlier when he just failed to control a ball that would have given him the chance to run in on goal.
Fraser – I really like and rate Fraser and felt for him tonight as the couple of things he tried didn’t really come off for him. Given the chance I’m sure he’ll impress in the future.
Hecky – I heard his post-match interview and agreed with his view that Killie are a very good side and got their tactics right in basically denying us the space to play.
The fans – I thought the atmosphere was flat for the most part tonight. Sporadic outbursts of singing but little more than that although I confess I was impressed by the number of Killie fans in attendance and in the noise that they made.
The ref – I guess he was better than he has been of late but there were a few decisions that rattled both sets of supporters as it was difficult to see how he had reacted or failed to on a few occasions.
Still unbeaten In the league since his arrival, Paul Heckingbottom made just the one change to his starting eleven with Slivka brought into the midfield, Milligan moved to centre back and Darren McGregor dropped to the bench. I wondered whether Daz wasn’t able to play two games in a short space of time because for me he was immense against Livingston and surely wasn’t dropped due to his performance.
The game started slowly and in truth it never really gathered any speed from the first whistle to the last. A good twenty five minutes had elapsed before the first real effort on goal and even then calling it an effort is being complimentary because Broadfoot’s shot was miles wide of the target. On the subject of Mulumbu I felt he was a lucky boy not to be red carded. A foul on Mallan in the first half and a shocker of a tackle on Omeonga in the second brought only one yellow from Steven McLean and that was for the Omeonga challenge. Mulumbu and Omeonga had earlier exchanged words and the odd shove and so it was always going to be that the on-loan Celtic man would take out the Hibs player when the chance arose.
It took Hibs thirty minutes to trouble the Killie goalie and that came after Hibs won possession near their own corner flag before cleverly passing their way to the other end of the park. It was a good move but ended when the strangely subdued Daryl Horgan forced Bachmann to tip his effort over the bar for a corner.
The first half hadn’t been great but that was due in no small part to the efficiency of both defences. Hanlon and Milligan had a pretty easy time of it as the Killie strikers offered no physical challenge of note and so it was no surprise when Kris Boyd came on for the second half. Killie started brightly without really causing any trouble to the Hibs goal before Stevie Mallan hit a long distance daisy cutter but it didn’t really trouble Bachmann who was able to collect the ball with ease. Soon after that a woeful pass by Paul Hanlon landed at the feet of Jordan Jones who raced in on goal and unleashed a pile driver of a shot which Marciano brilliantly saved with a strong right hand.
The congested midfield ensured some pretty meaty challenges going in and referee Steven McLean was busy with his yellow card, with Tshibola lucky not to see red for a challenge that saw him catch Mallan in the chest with a high boot.
With around fifteen minutes left, Shaw replaced the out of touch Kamberi and very nearly weighed in with a goal when a lovely cross from Lewis Stevenson allowed Oli to send a header just wide of goal. At the other end, Hibs made a hash of clearing a corner and the ball reached the normally deadly Boyd just a few yards out but he screwed his shot wide.
In truth a draw was a fair result. If anything I felt both teams showed the other too much respect but at the end of the day we kept a clean sheet and in doing so secured a top six finish. If and it’s a big if we can turn Hearts over on Saturday we’ll leapfrog them into fifth going into the final round of games. Just a few short weeks ago that seemed highly unlikely and so great credit is due to the players and coaches for achieving their first target with a game to spare.
The players
Rocky – Other than his stunning save from Jones he had very little to worry him and never really looked like he might concede.
SDG – Solid as ever though I felt he didn’t get forward quite as much as usual.
Milli – I know I said he was little troubled in the first half but that was as much due to his reading of the game as anything else. Even the introduction of a much more physical presence in the shape of Kris Boyd didn’t faze him and nor did being moved into midfield for the last half hour. Milli gets my man of the match award tonight.
Paul – Other than that quite horrendous pass that went straight to Jones I felt he was fine tonight although he didn’t break out from the back as often as he has done in recent weeks.
Lewis – Voted sponsors man of the match and he wasn’t far behind Milli in my award too. Defended really well and got down the left more often that SDG did in the right.
Daryl – So far off it tonight I was stunned he lasted as long as he did. There’s a player in there but that player simply didn’t turn up tonight.
Viki – Like Horgan, Viki wasn’t really at it tonight although the fact we were outnumbered in midfield for large parts of the game may have been part of the reason.
Stevie – Played far too deep for me. If he and Slivka are to start I’d switch their roles as Mallan offers a real goal threat which is not the case with Slivka.
Stephane – Flitted in and out of things a bit but when he gets involved he’s exciting to watch. I’m guessing he won’t be on Mulumbu’s Christmas card list though.
Flo – Playing him wide left did not work tonight and even when he moved into a more central position for the second half his contribution was pretty poor and it didn’t surprise me when he was replaced by Oli Shaw.
Sparky – The goals have dried up for the moment but then he was so isolated in the first half and double marked in the second it’s no surprise he didn’t score tonight.
Daz – Won just about every header and was the perfect foil to deny the bustling Kris Boyd the freedom to boss our defenders.
Oli – Was unlucky with that header and had been equally unlucky minutes earlier when he just failed to control a ball that would have given him the chance to run in on goal.
Fraser – I really like and rate Fraser and felt for him tonight as the couple of things he tried didn’t really come off for him. Given the chance I’m sure he’ll impress in the future.
Hecky – I heard his post-match interview and agreed with his view that Killie are a very good side and got their tactics right in basically denying us the space to play.
The fans – I thought the atmosphere was flat for the most part tonight. Sporadic outbursts of singing but little more than that although I confess I was impressed by the number of Killie fans in attendance and in the noise that they made.
The ref – I guess he was better than he has been of late but there were a few decisions that rattled both sets of supporters as it was difficult to see how he had reacted or failed to on a few occasions.