Jonnyboy
07-05-2022, 07:23 PM
Another uninspiring display from Hibs did little to entertain those fans in the home stands and once again I found myself wishing the season was over. Admittedly, Hibs did create a few decent chances but so too did Aberdeen and when the dust settled, I concluded that a draw was a fair result but maybe I’m being a bit harsh given that the whole 90 minutes just seemed flat to me.
With Porteous back from suspension, Stevenson dropped to the bench as did James Scott with Josh Campbell recalled. I confess that even from the off it seemed that once again there was no perceivable difference in our shape and tactics to that which we watched under Shaun Maloney. I find that really disappointing because the players were no longer being asked to do things, they proved incapable of and reverting to a system they were better suited too just didn’t happen and that stands retrospectively too in regard to our games against St. Mirren and Livingston.
As to the game itself, both sides started slowly although Porteous had a chance early on but saw his effort easily gathered by Joe Lewis. The Aberdeen keeper then found himself in a bit of bother when he picked up a passback, but the indirect free kick saw Porteous receive a short pass before blasting the ball against an advancing defender. Soon after, Newell had a chance charged down and then at the other end, Hayes looked to have eluded his marker but was flagged as offside. Like other recent games, this one got bogged down in midfield with both sides trading niggly fouls which stopped the game from flowing. Then, Harry Clarke was penalised for a high boot on Lewis Ferguson, but the Aberdeen man had his shot from the free kick blocked by Jake Doyle-Hayes.
Making his 500th appearance for Hibs, Paul Hanlon might have thought his headed attempt from a Newell corner would hit the net, but the ball sailed just wide of the post before attempts by Ferguson and McKenzie at the other end failed to trouble Matt Macey. With the half hour mark approaching, Clarke found Melkersen who drove into the box and hit a shot for the far post, but Joe Lewis got fingertips to it to push it wide for a corner. For Aberdeen, Vicente Besuijen tried his best to win an award for acting when he rolled five or six times after a strong but fair challenge by McGinn. This was pretty poor fare and as I stated earlier, a game of free kick after free kick but with the break looming, Johnny Hayes fired in a free kick shot from an angle, Macey though was untroubled.
Neither side made any changes at the interval but both sides looked to have been sent out with a flea in their ear and the tempo picked up as a result. Certainly, Hibs should have taken the lead when a shocking pass by Bates was intercepted by Newell around twenty yards from goal, but Joe dallied on the ball and Gallagher got across to block the shot. Five minutes later, Hibs paid the price by conceding. A high ball into the box was headed down by Gallagher and Bates pounced to force the ball home from close range. In response, Hibs forced a couple of quick corners but efforts from Campbell and Melkersen failed to trouble Lewis in the Aberdeen goal. Then, a flurry of substitutions saw Ramirez and Ojo on for the Dons whilst Jasper replaced Josh Campbell.
The introduction of Jasper added another dimension to Hibs’ play, and it was clear the Dons were concerned about the youngster as they doubled up in marking him. Over the next several minutes, both Clarke and McGinn were thwarted in their attempts to score but at least Hibs were now pushing men forward in their quest for an equaliser. Hanlon got forward and a headed attempt flew wide of the target after Henderson’s pin point delivery. Soon after, James Scott replaced Melkersen before Newell scorned a wonderful chance to get Hibs level when, from close range, he could only stab the ball straight at Lewis when scoring looked a certainty. At least these efforts lifted the crowd a bit because it had been pretty quiet up to that point. There is a lethargy surrounding Easter Road at the moment and that is both on and off the park.
Since going in front, Aberdeen took every opportunity to run the clock down. It seemed that the men in red were taking it turn about to go down apparently injured and that was infuriating both those in the home stands and the Hibs players on the park. Those shenanigans soon stopped after Hibs equalised seven minutes from the end of normal time. A high ball to the back post was headed down by Scott and Paul McGinn was on hand to sweep the ball home from close range. Aberdeen made a couple of substitutions designed, I felt to ensure they wouldn’t concede again rather that adding to their attacking strength. For their part, Hibs replaced Hanlon and Henderson with Bushiri and Stevenson.
In the last minute of normal time, Bates was booked for a crude challenge on Newell and then the fourth official held up the board indicating six minutes of additional time. I was surprised by that because although I’d watched Bobby Madden pointing to his watch every time Aberdeen forced a stoppage, I thought he’d do what most referees do and offer a token three minutes at best. To be fair to Hibs they were going for broke, and a flurry of efforts had the Dons hanging on. Porteous, Scott, Doig and Jasper were all denied and then right at the death only a fantastic block by Gallagher prevented Doig from grabbing the winner. As I said earlier, I think things seemed flat throughout and essentially this was a game between two poor teams severely lacking in confidence.
The players
Macey – In truth, Macey had little to deal with over the piece. A few routine saves and a couple of successful attempts at coming for the ball.
McGinn – Paul was up against Besuijen for the first half and coped well with him. It was interesting that Jim Goodwin had his man change sides a few times, but Doig was also up to the task of keeping him quiet.
Porteous – It’s so good to see him back and his performance today was top drawer, winning him my man of the match award.
Hanlon – A decent performance from the 500 appearances man and I thought it was a nice touch taking him off just before the final whistle, giving the fans the opportunity to applaud him in recognition of that milestone.
Clarke – I like the guy, he has something about him and as the clock ticked on after the Dons had scored, Harry was taking every opportunity to drive his side forwards.
Doyle-Hayes – Jake continues to frustrate me in that he rarely takes a pass on the turn to move play forwards. Surely his coaches should be working on this.
Newell – Joe was another with a landmark today as he reached 100 appearances. In all honesty he should have scored two goals to mark the occasion.
Doig – Josh worked well on the left side with Hanlon behind him and Henderson offering support when the need arose. Only a last ditch challenge denied the laddie the winning goal.
Henderson – Much quieter today as the game often seemed to pass him by.
Campbell – Josh took a couple of hefty knocks early in the game and was hobbling for a while.
Melkersen – Unlucky that Lewis denied him in the first half. It’s a tough gig being a lone front man but I’m sure he’s learning all the time.
Jasper – I’ll be honest and confess I was leaning towards a ‘flatters to deceive’ description of his efforts to date but fair play to him in this game as he certainly made a positive difference.
Scott – Three times in a row he failed to take the ball in and protect it and that’s poor by anyone’s standards but credit to him for setting up McGinn for the goal.
Stevenson – Lewis was brought on to do a job that gave Porteous more freedom to go forward.
Bushiri – Had me a wee bit worried at one point when he committed the cardinal sin of letting the ball bounce but thankfully that didn’t prove costly.
SDG – I’ve read his comments to the media and clearly, he’s a lot more positive about what he watched than I am!
Referee – Bobby Madden got most things right today, I thought.
With Porteous back from suspension, Stevenson dropped to the bench as did James Scott with Josh Campbell recalled. I confess that even from the off it seemed that once again there was no perceivable difference in our shape and tactics to that which we watched under Shaun Maloney. I find that really disappointing because the players were no longer being asked to do things, they proved incapable of and reverting to a system they were better suited too just didn’t happen and that stands retrospectively too in regard to our games against St. Mirren and Livingston.
As to the game itself, both sides started slowly although Porteous had a chance early on but saw his effort easily gathered by Joe Lewis. The Aberdeen keeper then found himself in a bit of bother when he picked up a passback, but the indirect free kick saw Porteous receive a short pass before blasting the ball against an advancing defender. Soon after, Newell had a chance charged down and then at the other end, Hayes looked to have eluded his marker but was flagged as offside. Like other recent games, this one got bogged down in midfield with both sides trading niggly fouls which stopped the game from flowing. Then, Harry Clarke was penalised for a high boot on Lewis Ferguson, but the Aberdeen man had his shot from the free kick blocked by Jake Doyle-Hayes.
Making his 500th appearance for Hibs, Paul Hanlon might have thought his headed attempt from a Newell corner would hit the net, but the ball sailed just wide of the post before attempts by Ferguson and McKenzie at the other end failed to trouble Matt Macey. With the half hour mark approaching, Clarke found Melkersen who drove into the box and hit a shot for the far post, but Joe Lewis got fingertips to it to push it wide for a corner. For Aberdeen, Vicente Besuijen tried his best to win an award for acting when he rolled five or six times after a strong but fair challenge by McGinn. This was pretty poor fare and as I stated earlier, a game of free kick after free kick but with the break looming, Johnny Hayes fired in a free kick shot from an angle, Macey though was untroubled.
Neither side made any changes at the interval but both sides looked to have been sent out with a flea in their ear and the tempo picked up as a result. Certainly, Hibs should have taken the lead when a shocking pass by Bates was intercepted by Newell around twenty yards from goal, but Joe dallied on the ball and Gallagher got across to block the shot. Five minutes later, Hibs paid the price by conceding. A high ball into the box was headed down by Gallagher and Bates pounced to force the ball home from close range. In response, Hibs forced a couple of quick corners but efforts from Campbell and Melkersen failed to trouble Lewis in the Aberdeen goal. Then, a flurry of substitutions saw Ramirez and Ojo on for the Dons whilst Jasper replaced Josh Campbell.
The introduction of Jasper added another dimension to Hibs’ play, and it was clear the Dons were concerned about the youngster as they doubled up in marking him. Over the next several minutes, both Clarke and McGinn were thwarted in their attempts to score but at least Hibs were now pushing men forward in their quest for an equaliser. Hanlon got forward and a headed attempt flew wide of the target after Henderson’s pin point delivery. Soon after, James Scott replaced Melkersen before Newell scorned a wonderful chance to get Hibs level when, from close range, he could only stab the ball straight at Lewis when scoring looked a certainty. At least these efforts lifted the crowd a bit because it had been pretty quiet up to that point. There is a lethargy surrounding Easter Road at the moment and that is both on and off the park.
Since going in front, Aberdeen took every opportunity to run the clock down. It seemed that the men in red were taking it turn about to go down apparently injured and that was infuriating both those in the home stands and the Hibs players on the park. Those shenanigans soon stopped after Hibs equalised seven minutes from the end of normal time. A high ball to the back post was headed down by Scott and Paul McGinn was on hand to sweep the ball home from close range. Aberdeen made a couple of substitutions designed, I felt to ensure they wouldn’t concede again rather that adding to their attacking strength. For their part, Hibs replaced Hanlon and Henderson with Bushiri and Stevenson.
In the last minute of normal time, Bates was booked for a crude challenge on Newell and then the fourth official held up the board indicating six minutes of additional time. I was surprised by that because although I’d watched Bobby Madden pointing to his watch every time Aberdeen forced a stoppage, I thought he’d do what most referees do and offer a token three minutes at best. To be fair to Hibs they were going for broke, and a flurry of efforts had the Dons hanging on. Porteous, Scott, Doig and Jasper were all denied and then right at the death only a fantastic block by Gallagher prevented Doig from grabbing the winner. As I said earlier, I think things seemed flat throughout and essentially this was a game between two poor teams severely lacking in confidence.
The players
Macey – In truth, Macey had little to deal with over the piece. A few routine saves and a couple of successful attempts at coming for the ball.
McGinn – Paul was up against Besuijen for the first half and coped well with him. It was interesting that Jim Goodwin had his man change sides a few times, but Doig was also up to the task of keeping him quiet.
Porteous – It’s so good to see him back and his performance today was top drawer, winning him my man of the match award.
Hanlon – A decent performance from the 500 appearances man and I thought it was a nice touch taking him off just before the final whistle, giving the fans the opportunity to applaud him in recognition of that milestone.
Clarke – I like the guy, he has something about him and as the clock ticked on after the Dons had scored, Harry was taking every opportunity to drive his side forwards.
Doyle-Hayes – Jake continues to frustrate me in that he rarely takes a pass on the turn to move play forwards. Surely his coaches should be working on this.
Newell – Joe was another with a landmark today as he reached 100 appearances. In all honesty he should have scored two goals to mark the occasion.
Doig – Josh worked well on the left side with Hanlon behind him and Henderson offering support when the need arose. Only a last ditch challenge denied the laddie the winning goal.
Henderson – Much quieter today as the game often seemed to pass him by.
Campbell – Josh took a couple of hefty knocks early in the game and was hobbling for a while.
Melkersen – Unlucky that Lewis denied him in the first half. It’s a tough gig being a lone front man but I’m sure he’s learning all the time.
Jasper – I’ll be honest and confess I was leaning towards a ‘flatters to deceive’ description of his efforts to date but fair play to him in this game as he certainly made a positive difference.
Scott – Three times in a row he failed to take the ball in and protect it and that’s poor by anyone’s standards but credit to him for setting up McGinn for the goal.
Stevenson – Lewis was brought on to do a job that gave Porteous more freedom to go forward.
Bushiri – Had me a wee bit worried at one point when he committed the cardinal sin of letting the ball bounce but thankfully that didn’t prove costly.
SDG – I’ve read his comments to the media and clearly, he’s a lot more positive about what he watched than I am!
Referee – Bobby Madden got most things right today, I thought.