Jonnyboy
27-02-2021, 05:34 PM
The lead up to today’s game brought some really good news when it was announced that Josh Doig and Joe Newell had signed extended and new contracts, respectively. Unfortunately, the good news disappeared following a truly dismal performance from Hibs in going down 2-0 at home to lowly Motherwell. Make no mistake, this was a horror show from a lacklustre Hibs but to Motherwell’s credit they got their tactics and application 100% spot on, making the assertion by some that they were there for the taking, simply nonsense.
With the chance to extend their unbeaten run, Jack Ross made only one change to his starting line up; Doig out injured with Stevenson getting a start at left wingback. Young Bradley got the vacant seat on what looked a strong bench.
The start of the game was uninspiring as both sides struggled to get a foothold on the game but as the minutes ticked by it was apparent that Motherwell were not here to defend deep and hit on the break. Tony Watt was proving a handful for Hibs and his headed pass to Cole offered an opening for a shot, but McGregor reacted quickly to block the effort. Five minutes later, Stevenson swung over an excellent cross which Doidge couldn’t quite reach before Boyle reacted fractionally too late and steered a headed attempt wide. Soon after, the ball reached Cadden wide right at the edge of the penalty area and his fantastic drive cleared the bar when it looked as though the ball might find the top corner.
Motherwell began to dictate the play with our midfield men being dominated. The visitors created three good chances in succession with the first witnessing Watt hitting the side netting after being played in by Carroll. Next, Allan Campbell swung a boot at a rising ball when just ten yards from goal but a magnificent block challenge by McGregor ensured the shot would not be on target. Cole was next to try his luck but once again the effort was blocked. Sadly, Hibs did not heed the obvious warning signs and in the twenty fifth minute the visitors took the lead. Tony Watt pushed the ball towards the Hibs goal with the outside of his right foot and Jordan Roberts held off Hanlon before slotting the ball past the advancing Marciano. Just sixty seconds later, Campbell missed the chance to double the lead by screwing the ball wide of the post.
Hibs were all at sea and couldn’t seem to put together any meaningful passage of possession. Murphy was anonymous and Newell and Irvine looked extremely ordinary when set against Campbell, Maguire and Crawford in the Motherwell engine room. A blocked effort by Cadden was an isolated incident in a period of the game when Hibs needed to get their act together and play with more pace and aggression.
Ten minutes from the break, Campbell again tried his luck but pulled his shot wide, much to the relief of a static Hibs defence. On the odd occasion that Hibs managed to get the ball wide, decent crosses from Stevenson and Cadden met with little success as Doidge was often ploughing a lonely furrow up front. The lack of support to him, particularly from Murphy and Irvine was really quite alarming if truth be told.
Reaching the interval just a goal behind offered hope that Jack Ross would sort them out and get them on the front foot but whatever he might have said there was no chance to witness any noticeable difference because sixty seconds in, weak defending allowed Cole to make the space to easily slot the ball past an exposed Marciano.
Just five minutes into the half, Jack Ross made a triple substitution by bringing on Nisbet, Gogic and Porteous at the expense of Murphy, McGregor and Stevenson. In all honesty any of the ten outfield players could have had little complaint if they’d been hooked, so poor were we performing. Inside sixty seconds of the subs being made, Irvine slotted a nice pass through to Doidge, but the big fella was caught offside and not for the first time. At the other end, the tireless Tony Watt saw a header deflected wide before Hibs tried their luck again when Doidge got free on the right of the box, but his low effort was blocked by Kelly in the Motherwell goal. It was a decent chance but fair play to the goalkeeper. Soon after, a Boyle corner evaded everyone, and the ball reached Newell at the angle of the eighteen yard box. Joe took a touch, steadied himself and crashed his effort into the side netting and that instance highlights just why he doesn’t score enough goals. It was a good chance, and he wasn’t closed down, but the effort was poor when hitting the target looked easier.
With twenty minutes to go, Doidge missed another good chance by firing the ball straight at the advancing keeper when a squared pass might well have found the unmarked Nisbet in the middle. Motherwell were defending deeper now but still breaking when the chance arose, and Cole might have done better with an effort that was blocked by Porteous. Fifteen minutes to go and a Nisbet shot is easily saved but a few minutes later, Doidge missed an absolute sitter from inside the six yard box. A cross from the right was missed by a Motherwell player and Doidge poked a foot at it but hit the keeper with the ball spinning into the air where the Hibs man tried to jump and force the ball home with a header, but he steered it wide of the target.
In an attempt to prise open a well drilled defence, Jack Ross replaced Irvine with Scott Allan but try as he might, the new man just couldn’t offer that little piece of magic. For the last fifteen to twenty minutes of the game the tactic seemed to be to get the ball out wide to Boyle so that Martin could offer up crosses to be attacked by Doidge and Nisbet. Unfortunately, Boyle’s sterling efforts came to naught because Motherwell simply doubled up in marking him and no Hibs man seemed willing to go out and help.
Hibs huffed and puffed their way to the final whistle and though they made a couple of chances, neither was taken, the last of which saw Scott Allan pick out Nisbet, inside the eighteen yard line but was fired miles over the bar.
It was a relief when the final whistle was blown and a stark reminder that regardless of league position, there are no easy games in this league. Motherwell deserved the points as they were the better team by some distance and the only bright spot was that Aberdeen also lost and so the points difference remains the same with another game having been played by each side.
The players
Marciano – Rocky was beaten twice but neither goal was his fault as his defensive colleagues let him down badly.
McGinn – Paul is usually quite a solid performer, but he looked well below his best today.
McGregor – Daz made at least two vital block challenges today but I’m wondering if he was one of the five reportedly having struggled with knocks. His substitution might offer some explanation as I don’t think he was playing all that badly.
Hanlon – Tony Watt is often mocked on here but today he was a constant thorn in the side of Paul Hanlon who struggled throughout with the Motherwell man’s strength and close ball control. Contrast his performance with that of Christian Doidge.
Cadden – I thought Chris had a decent first half but was miles off it in the second. He was very unlucky that his fierce first half effort cleared the crossbar because had it been on target, Kelly was getting nowhere near it.
Irvine – An ordinary and disappointing performance from him and I expect so much better. He doesn’t seem to know whether his focus is defence or attack and was often caught in no man’s land.
Newell – The curse of the new contract. Seems every time a player signs a new contract their form dips. Joe was largely anonymous and but for his endless passes sideways and backwards his completion rate would have taken a pounding today.
Stevenson – Lewis was never going to give us the mobility we get from Doig but he’s a good, steady and reliable player who, for my money, was the best of a bad bunch in the first half.
Murphy – I said above that he was anonymous, and I will say it again – he was anonymous.
Boyle – Service to Boyle today was poor and there was no attempt to slide the ball behind the defence to let him run through. To his credit, he launched virtually a one man comeback attempt in the second half and never took his foot off the gas. A lot of poor performances throughout today but Boyler kept going to the end and gets my man of the match award.
Doidge – Over the last few weeks I’ve tried to emphasise the value he brings to the side but let’s be honest his main job is to score goals and he hasn’t been doing that. The chances, and they were good chances, he missed today were pretty awful. Chris needs to find the net again and soon.
Nisbet – Got the bulk of the second half but pretty much offered nothing of note. His late miss was horrendous.
Gogic – Brought some bite to the midfield but by that time Motherwell were 2-0 up and their midfield dropped ten yards to help defend that lead.
Porteous – I actually think Ryan did quite well but then there was little to do by way of defending for most of the second half.
Allan – The only plus was his getting of more match minutes.
Jack Ross – I’ve just read his comments on the BBC site and have to say they mystify me. We were outplayed for virtually the entire game and though we had a lot of the ball in the second half we presented no real threat to Motherwell picking up the points.
Referee – Alan Muir. Easy game to handle and no big decisions to make.
As an aside, I found watching Alex Miller laughing and joking today to be kinda scary :greengrin
With the chance to extend their unbeaten run, Jack Ross made only one change to his starting line up; Doig out injured with Stevenson getting a start at left wingback. Young Bradley got the vacant seat on what looked a strong bench.
The start of the game was uninspiring as both sides struggled to get a foothold on the game but as the minutes ticked by it was apparent that Motherwell were not here to defend deep and hit on the break. Tony Watt was proving a handful for Hibs and his headed pass to Cole offered an opening for a shot, but McGregor reacted quickly to block the effort. Five minutes later, Stevenson swung over an excellent cross which Doidge couldn’t quite reach before Boyle reacted fractionally too late and steered a headed attempt wide. Soon after, the ball reached Cadden wide right at the edge of the penalty area and his fantastic drive cleared the bar when it looked as though the ball might find the top corner.
Motherwell began to dictate the play with our midfield men being dominated. The visitors created three good chances in succession with the first witnessing Watt hitting the side netting after being played in by Carroll. Next, Allan Campbell swung a boot at a rising ball when just ten yards from goal but a magnificent block challenge by McGregor ensured the shot would not be on target. Cole was next to try his luck but once again the effort was blocked. Sadly, Hibs did not heed the obvious warning signs and in the twenty fifth minute the visitors took the lead. Tony Watt pushed the ball towards the Hibs goal with the outside of his right foot and Jordan Roberts held off Hanlon before slotting the ball past the advancing Marciano. Just sixty seconds later, Campbell missed the chance to double the lead by screwing the ball wide of the post.
Hibs were all at sea and couldn’t seem to put together any meaningful passage of possession. Murphy was anonymous and Newell and Irvine looked extremely ordinary when set against Campbell, Maguire and Crawford in the Motherwell engine room. A blocked effort by Cadden was an isolated incident in a period of the game when Hibs needed to get their act together and play with more pace and aggression.
Ten minutes from the break, Campbell again tried his luck but pulled his shot wide, much to the relief of a static Hibs defence. On the odd occasion that Hibs managed to get the ball wide, decent crosses from Stevenson and Cadden met with little success as Doidge was often ploughing a lonely furrow up front. The lack of support to him, particularly from Murphy and Irvine was really quite alarming if truth be told.
Reaching the interval just a goal behind offered hope that Jack Ross would sort them out and get them on the front foot but whatever he might have said there was no chance to witness any noticeable difference because sixty seconds in, weak defending allowed Cole to make the space to easily slot the ball past an exposed Marciano.
Just five minutes into the half, Jack Ross made a triple substitution by bringing on Nisbet, Gogic and Porteous at the expense of Murphy, McGregor and Stevenson. In all honesty any of the ten outfield players could have had little complaint if they’d been hooked, so poor were we performing. Inside sixty seconds of the subs being made, Irvine slotted a nice pass through to Doidge, but the big fella was caught offside and not for the first time. At the other end, the tireless Tony Watt saw a header deflected wide before Hibs tried their luck again when Doidge got free on the right of the box, but his low effort was blocked by Kelly in the Motherwell goal. It was a decent chance but fair play to the goalkeeper. Soon after, a Boyle corner evaded everyone, and the ball reached Newell at the angle of the eighteen yard box. Joe took a touch, steadied himself and crashed his effort into the side netting and that instance highlights just why he doesn’t score enough goals. It was a good chance, and he wasn’t closed down, but the effort was poor when hitting the target looked easier.
With twenty minutes to go, Doidge missed another good chance by firing the ball straight at the advancing keeper when a squared pass might well have found the unmarked Nisbet in the middle. Motherwell were defending deeper now but still breaking when the chance arose, and Cole might have done better with an effort that was blocked by Porteous. Fifteen minutes to go and a Nisbet shot is easily saved but a few minutes later, Doidge missed an absolute sitter from inside the six yard box. A cross from the right was missed by a Motherwell player and Doidge poked a foot at it but hit the keeper with the ball spinning into the air where the Hibs man tried to jump and force the ball home with a header, but he steered it wide of the target.
In an attempt to prise open a well drilled defence, Jack Ross replaced Irvine with Scott Allan but try as he might, the new man just couldn’t offer that little piece of magic. For the last fifteen to twenty minutes of the game the tactic seemed to be to get the ball out wide to Boyle so that Martin could offer up crosses to be attacked by Doidge and Nisbet. Unfortunately, Boyle’s sterling efforts came to naught because Motherwell simply doubled up in marking him and no Hibs man seemed willing to go out and help.
Hibs huffed and puffed their way to the final whistle and though they made a couple of chances, neither was taken, the last of which saw Scott Allan pick out Nisbet, inside the eighteen yard line but was fired miles over the bar.
It was a relief when the final whistle was blown and a stark reminder that regardless of league position, there are no easy games in this league. Motherwell deserved the points as they were the better team by some distance and the only bright spot was that Aberdeen also lost and so the points difference remains the same with another game having been played by each side.
The players
Marciano – Rocky was beaten twice but neither goal was his fault as his defensive colleagues let him down badly.
McGinn – Paul is usually quite a solid performer, but he looked well below his best today.
McGregor – Daz made at least two vital block challenges today but I’m wondering if he was one of the five reportedly having struggled with knocks. His substitution might offer some explanation as I don’t think he was playing all that badly.
Hanlon – Tony Watt is often mocked on here but today he was a constant thorn in the side of Paul Hanlon who struggled throughout with the Motherwell man’s strength and close ball control. Contrast his performance with that of Christian Doidge.
Cadden – I thought Chris had a decent first half but was miles off it in the second. He was very unlucky that his fierce first half effort cleared the crossbar because had it been on target, Kelly was getting nowhere near it.
Irvine – An ordinary and disappointing performance from him and I expect so much better. He doesn’t seem to know whether his focus is defence or attack and was often caught in no man’s land.
Newell – The curse of the new contract. Seems every time a player signs a new contract their form dips. Joe was largely anonymous and but for his endless passes sideways and backwards his completion rate would have taken a pounding today.
Stevenson – Lewis was never going to give us the mobility we get from Doig but he’s a good, steady and reliable player who, for my money, was the best of a bad bunch in the first half.
Murphy – I said above that he was anonymous, and I will say it again – he was anonymous.
Boyle – Service to Boyle today was poor and there was no attempt to slide the ball behind the defence to let him run through. To his credit, he launched virtually a one man comeback attempt in the second half and never took his foot off the gas. A lot of poor performances throughout today but Boyler kept going to the end and gets my man of the match award.
Doidge – Over the last few weeks I’ve tried to emphasise the value he brings to the side but let’s be honest his main job is to score goals and he hasn’t been doing that. The chances, and they were good chances, he missed today were pretty awful. Chris needs to find the net again and soon.
Nisbet – Got the bulk of the second half but pretty much offered nothing of note. His late miss was horrendous.
Gogic – Brought some bite to the midfield but by that time Motherwell were 2-0 up and their midfield dropped ten yards to help defend that lead.
Porteous – I actually think Ryan did quite well but then there was little to do by way of defending for most of the second half.
Allan – The only plus was his getting of more match minutes.
Jack Ross – I’ve just read his comments on the BBC site and have to say they mystify me. We were outplayed for virtually the entire game and though we had a lot of the ball in the second half we presented no real threat to Motherwell picking up the points.
Referee – Alan Muir. Easy game to handle and no big decisions to make.
As an aside, I found watching Alex Miller laughing and joking today to be kinda scary :greengrin