John Leslie (7.5)

Simon Spence (6)    Jim McPherson (8)   Mark Grice (7.5)     Grant Ramsey (7.5)

Luke Pomoro (6.5)   Adam Pomoro (8.5)   Stephen Watts (8)    Lee Steer (7)

                Gerry Ravisher (6.5)        Paul Dublin (6.5)

Substitutes (all used)

John Stevenson (for Simon) 7
Kevin Robertson (for Paul) 6.5
Gavin (for Gerry) 6

This was a tremendous performance, by pretty much everyone in the team. We played some of the most attractive football I've seen us play. The combinations down the left flank in the first half, with Stevie Adam and Lee, were simply Shuperb. Everywhere, save the right back position was a source of attacking flair in the first half.

Hibs dominated early on and created a goal early on, when Paul broke free and slotted home, only for the referee to blow for offside minutes later. They then piled up our left flank and switched it to the right, the ball being played in and their smallest player stood on the fragile 6'5" John Leslie's foot, preventing him from pushing the ball away, so one of their number slotted it home. 1-0 to Man Utd.

This score reflected nothing of the play and was very soon equalised with combination play from the Lavender Hill mob. Adam won the ball in midfield and passed it to Lee. Lee floated a lovely ball that Luca knocked on, with Paul Dublin scoring, 1-1.

There was then unrelenting pressure from Hibs, matching their manager's powerful, sustained encouragement from the sideline. We won one of our few freekicks on the left side and Adam Pomoro rose to the occasion and produced a sublime kick into the top right corner, positively Brazilian. 2-1 for the Hibee boys.

Grant Ramsey attempts a cross

Half Time 2-1

Half Time Team Talk (1)

Half Time Team Talk (2)

Second half began with John Stevenson adding some steel in the right back position and Kevin Robertson offering a robust option up front. (See below!)

"Robust" Kevin

Hibs again got off to a determined start, flowing all over their defence, their substitute goal keeper paradoxically being better than their original keeper, who managed to thwart our collective efforts, but only for a time. Then the goal when it came, saw Adam Pomoro in an advanced position, with a high ball played through for Adam to knock over the keeper into the net, making it 3-1 for the London Hibs.

Adam Pomoro scores!

Other attacks followed, with Kevin, Jim and Gerry all having powerful shots or near (enough) to the target to show Hibs continuing intent. Man Utd continued to play the game in what I can only characterise as a right whinging fashion, their centre forward developing the same problem as the
referee, the old delayed reaction syndrome. Whereby the wee rasta fella was tackled firmly from behind, by John Stevenson (favourite method apparently) then fell, got up and fell again with what I can only describe as a comic wail, followed by the old triple sulco roll. Bizarre!

Another London Hibs Attack

They continued the pressure and were quite tricky, but a combination of intelligently second guessing the ball, moving early into position and crowding this wee team ensured that they posed no real threat. When they did break through the defence of Jim, Gricey Grant and John, big John was able to mop the remains of their attack up.

John Stevenson made a storming run from the back only to be felled by their defence on the outskirts of the box; the referee astonishingly waved play on. This time Hibs played to the whistle and retrieved the ball.

Full Time : London Hibs 3 Manchester United 1

Overall a wonderful performance, that saw the defence absorb everything that was thrown at them and John rock solid in goals. Midfield was superb, particularly the way they dealt with their playmaker and manager. Whilst attack needs some fine tuning, there is a great deal to be taken from this game, not least of which are three points.

Long may this form continue

Kevin
(Manager London Hibs)