Jonnyboy
29-12-2019, 07:06 PM
The high of the Tynecastle win was still fresh in my mind as I travelled to the Tony Macaroni Arena this afternoon, but I was mindful of the fact that such a result counts for less if it’s followed up by a defeat. We lost, played pitifully and missed out on a glorious chance to narrow the gap on both Aberdeen and Motherwell who both lost points.
The blame game is an easy one to play but I don’t intend to go down that road too much as it is a pointless exercise at the end of the day. The weather was rubbish, the pitch is a disgrace, the referee was biased etc., etc., are words that I’ll no doubt read on the messageboard but the bottom line to me is that Livingston were better organised, hungrier for the points and seemed fitter than Hibs. That first point is factual whilst the second and third are surely hard to argue against given how the match panned out.
Jack Ross went with the same starting eleven he’d fielded for the derby whilst on the bench there were places for David Gray and Steven Whittaker with Mallan and Jackson dropping out; perhaps due to injury but in truth I’m not sure. The players would have to be at it from the off because Livi are a fine team at home, conceding only five goals prior to this visit from Hibs.
From the off it seemed that Hibs’ answer to the swirling wind conditions was to go high and long in hoping to find the Livi defenders struggling with the flight of the ball. It didn’t work although it was from a Marciano clearance that Boyle managed to control well but his shot at goal was weak. That effort apart, playing the ball on the deck was virtually non-existent from a Hibs perspective as Livi made better use of the ball by keeping it low and passing through our midfield.
I think it’s fair to say that the hosts were dominant throughout and might have taken a first half lead when Lawson unleashed an effort that Marciano stopped but couldn’t hold. Thankfully, Paul Hanlon was on hand to clear the danger. In a rare bit of flowing football, Doidge raced into the Livi box but his left foot shot from around fifteen yards flew over the bar. Marciano then saved from Lamie before uncharacteristic slack play from McGregor almost allowed Dykes to run through on goal.
It had been a very disappointing performance in the first half and I hoped that Jack Ross would have encouraging words to offer his players at half time. Surprisingly, there were no substitutions made even although the likes of Horgan and Boyle had offered little or nothing in an attacking sense. When the second half started it looked for a minute or two as though Hibs were going to make a better fist of things but that proved to be a false dawn, although Hallberg should have done much better than sending a shot well over the bar when nobody had come to shut him down.
Around the hour mark the hosts took a deserved lead when Hibs failed to clear a corner, the ball bounced around in the six yard box and Guthrie hustled it over the line. Shocking defending akin to that you might witness in a public park on a Sunday.
Any hope that this might galvanise Hibs into action was a forlorn one as the pattern of the game was unaltered. When a Livi man had the ball he was given time and space to play it whereas a Hibs man with the ball was quickly surrounded and dispossessed. The Livi fitness levels are to be complimented given that they performed that way for the entire ninety minutes.
Five minutes after going behind, Jack Ross tried to change things up by replacing the ineffective Scott Allan and even more ineffective Daryl Horgan with Oli Shaw and Fraser Murray. Sadly there was no obvious improvement and indeed the hosts soon doubled their lead when a poor attempted clearance reached Lawson on the right and the Livi man delivered a fine cross into the area whereupon Marciano stayed rooted to the spot and McGregor allowed Guthrie to get the better of him as he headed into the net.
There was a fantastic support in Livingston today, at least in terms of numbers but we were oh so quiet, allowing the fifty or so Livi youngsters to sing their way through the afternoon with little or no competition.
As the game petered out, Livi sought out a third goal and only a last ditch challenge from Stevenson stopped Dykes from scoring it.
What have we learned from today’s performance? We need to up the desire to win level dramatically; we need to match or better the fitness of our opponents; we need to accept that one or two of our regular starters need to either ship up or shape out.
Oh …. No man of the match for me today as not one of them did anything worthy of special mention.
The players
Marciano – Rocky had a couple of decent saves but given that both goals conceded were to a player in our own six yard box we maybe need to question why he wasn’t out there smothering or punching the ball away.
Naismith – Today was not a good day at the office for Jason. He struggled with the flight of the ball both before and after the break and offered next to nothing going forward.
McGregor – As immense as he was at Tynecastle he struggled today against a striker (Dykes) who used his physicality well and perhaps more importantly stayed on his feet.
Hanlon – Another who struggled with the flight of the ball he was guilty on a couple of occasions in letting a high ball bounce rather than attacking it. That invariably gives the attacking player an advantage and that’s what happened today.
Stevenson – Lewis was not at his best and found Lawson of Livi a difficult opponent but as is always the case with Lewis he gave it everything until the end, some of his team mates did not.
Slivka – I read on here that he’s too inconsistent and today’s performance kinda cements that view. I thought he did well against Hearts but was pretty ineffective today.
Hallberg – Another one off the boil and his seventy odd minutes on the park were peppered with silly mistakes.
Allan – This was not vintage Scott Allan, far from it but I credit him with his high work rate and that’s not something I can do for many of his fellow players.
Horgan – I’d love to know what Daryl does in training that makes the manager give him a starting berth. Apart from buzzing about, I’m at a loss as to what he’s trying to do half the time.
Boyle – I suppose you could argue that his team mates hardly gave him the ball but the bottom line today was that Boyler was peripheral throughout.
Doidge – I reckon Lamie and Guthrie will sleep easy tonight because the big fella gave them an easy ride this afternoon. He worked hard but that’s about it.
Shaw – Got twenty five minutes but had very little impact on the game. I feel his lack of playing time has worked against him.
Murray – Fraser also got twenty five minutes and tried to get Hibs going but it was a lost cause as his team mates were clearly not up for it.
Newell – Like Shaw and Murray he tried to inject some desire into a Hibs side sadly lacking but to no avail.
Jack Ross – I didn’t hear his after match interview but I can’t imagine he had very much to say in a positive sense.
The fans – A brilliant support in terms of numbers but as the team gave us little to shout about we were quiet for the most part.
Euan Anderson – Star of the show, at least in his own head. He whistled for fouls that many times that he made a poor game even worse.
The blame game is an easy one to play but I don’t intend to go down that road too much as it is a pointless exercise at the end of the day. The weather was rubbish, the pitch is a disgrace, the referee was biased etc., etc., are words that I’ll no doubt read on the messageboard but the bottom line to me is that Livingston were better organised, hungrier for the points and seemed fitter than Hibs. That first point is factual whilst the second and third are surely hard to argue against given how the match panned out.
Jack Ross went with the same starting eleven he’d fielded for the derby whilst on the bench there were places for David Gray and Steven Whittaker with Mallan and Jackson dropping out; perhaps due to injury but in truth I’m not sure. The players would have to be at it from the off because Livi are a fine team at home, conceding only five goals prior to this visit from Hibs.
From the off it seemed that Hibs’ answer to the swirling wind conditions was to go high and long in hoping to find the Livi defenders struggling with the flight of the ball. It didn’t work although it was from a Marciano clearance that Boyle managed to control well but his shot at goal was weak. That effort apart, playing the ball on the deck was virtually non-existent from a Hibs perspective as Livi made better use of the ball by keeping it low and passing through our midfield.
I think it’s fair to say that the hosts were dominant throughout and might have taken a first half lead when Lawson unleashed an effort that Marciano stopped but couldn’t hold. Thankfully, Paul Hanlon was on hand to clear the danger. In a rare bit of flowing football, Doidge raced into the Livi box but his left foot shot from around fifteen yards flew over the bar. Marciano then saved from Lamie before uncharacteristic slack play from McGregor almost allowed Dykes to run through on goal.
It had been a very disappointing performance in the first half and I hoped that Jack Ross would have encouraging words to offer his players at half time. Surprisingly, there were no substitutions made even although the likes of Horgan and Boyle had offered little or nothing in an attacking sense. When the second half started it looked for a minute or two as though Hibs were going to make a better fist of things but that proved to be a false dawn, although Hallberg should have done much better than sending a shot well over the bar when nobody had come to shut him down.
Around the hour mark the hosts took a deserved lead when Hibs failed to clear a corner, the ball bounced around in the six yard box and Guthrie hustled it over the line. Shocking defending akin to that you might witness in a public park on a Sunday.
Any hope that this might galvanise Hibs into action was a forlorn one as the pattern of the game was unaltered. When a Livi man had the ball he was given time and space to play it whereas a Hibs man with the ball was quickly surrounded and dispossessed. The Livi fitness levels are to be complimented given that they performed that way for the entire ninety minutes.
Five minutes after going behind, Jack Ross tried to change things up by replacing the ineffective Scott Allan and even more ineffective Daryl Horgan with Oli Shaw and Fraser Murray. Sadly there was no obvious improvement and indeed the hosts soon doubled their lead when a poor attempted clearance reached Lawson on the right and the Livi man delivered a fine cross into the area whereupon Marciano stayed rooted to the spot and McGregor allowed Guthrie to get the better of him as he headed into the net.
There was a fantastic support in Livingston today, at least in terms of numbers but we were oh so quiet, allowing the fifty or so Livi youngsters to sing their way through the afternoon with little or no competition.
As the game petered out, Livi sought out a third goal and only a last ditch challenge from Stevenson stopped Dykes from scoring it.
What have we learned from today’s performance? We need to up the desire to win level dramatically; we need to match or better the fitness of our opponents; we need to accept that one or two of our regular starters need to either ship up or shape out.
Oh …. No man of the match for me today as not one of them did anything worthy of special mention.
The players
Marciano – Rocky had a couple of decent saves but given that both goals conceded were to a player in our own six yard box we maybe need to question why he wasn’t out there smothering or punching the ball away.
Naismith – Today was not a good day at the office for Jason. He struggled with the flight of the ball both before and after the break and offered next to nothing going forward.
McGregor – As immense as he was at Tynecastle he struggled today against a striker (Dykes) who used his physicality well and perhaps more importantly stayed on his feet.
Hanlon – Another who struggled with the flight of the ball he was guilty on a couple of occasions in letting a high ball bounce rather than attacking it. That invariably gives the attacking player an advantage and that’s what happened today.
Stevenson – Lewis was not at his best and found Lawson of Livi a difficult opponent but as is always the case with Lewis he gave it everything until the end, some of his team mates did not.
Slivka – I read on here that he’s too inconsistent and today’s performance kinda cements that view. I thought he did well against Hearts but was pretty ineffective today.
Hallberg – Another one off the boil and his seventy odd minutes on the park were peppered with silly mistakes.
Allan – This was not vintage Scott Allan, far from it but I credit him with his high work rate and that’s not something I can do for many of his fellow players.
Horgan – I’d love to know what Daryl does in training that makes the manager give him a starting berth. Apart from buzzing about, I’m at a loss as to what he’s trying to do half the time.
Boyle – I suppose you could argue that his team mates hardly gave him the ball but the bottom line today was that Boyler was peripheral throughout.
Doidge – I reckon Lamie and Guthrie will sleep easy tonight because the big fella gave them an easy ride this afternoon. He worked hard but that’s about it.
Shaw – Got twenty five minutes but had very little impact on the game. I feel his lack of playing time has worked against him.
Murray – Fraser also got twenty five minutes and tried to get Hibs going but it was a lost cause as his team mates were clearly not up for it.
Newell – Like Shaw and Murray he tried to inject some desire into a Hibs side sadly lacking but to no avail.
Jack Ross – I didn’t hear his after match interview but I can’t imagine he had very much to say in a positive sense.
The fans – A brilliant support in terms of numbers but as the team gave us little to shout about we were quiet for the most part.
Euan Anderson – Star of the show, at least in his own head. He whistled for fouls that many times that he made a poor game even worse.