This is how it feels (Dundee United 23 09 21)
The chance to reach a fifth consecutive cup semi final was the prize on offer to Hibs as they travelled to Tannadice to face Dundee United in the Premier Sports Cup. A sizeable travelling support was impressive, but I confess I was surprised at the home turnout for a cup quarter final, on the back of a Derby win.
Given there are only three domestic trophies to play for and accepting that one of those is likely to be out of our reach, I was pleased to see Jack Ross picked a strong team with the emphasis on attacking. In possession, Hibs used a 4-2-3-1 formation with Boyle, Magennis and Allan pushed on to assist Nisbet whilst the two wide men would funnel back when out of possession, to assist Doyle-Hayes and Newell.
Wearing what is fast becoming my favourite ever away strip, Hibs started brightly and with just three minutes on the clock a gorgeous pass from Scott Allan found Newell free inside the United box. The Allan pass was so precise that Joe didn’t even have to take a touch before he thundered the ball past the helpless Carson. United looked stunned and a few fierce challenges followed as the home side struggled to get a foothold. There was no real surprise when Dylan Levitt was shown a yellow card by referee Willie Collum. Soon after that, Kyle Magennis forced a save out of Carson who had to tip the ball over the bar.
Annoyingly, to me at least, Hibs seemed to take their collective foot off the gas and allowed United to dominate possession for a spell. I could see Jack Ross bellowing instructions to his men, so he was clearly annoyed too. Around the twenty minute mark, Scott Allan committed two fouls in quick succession, earning himself a yellow card and I’ll be honest I think he could count himself lucky not to get a second yellow a few minutes later after a blatant display of simulation.
United looked neat and tidy until they reached our box and more often than not, they failed to trouble Macey. On the half hour the lively Fuchs found McNulty at the edge of the Hibs box, but the striker’s effort was well blocked by Paul Hanlon at the expense of a corner which, when delivered, was headed well wide of the target by Ryan Edwards.
Hibs were struggling to match the pace and industry of a United midfield and the hosts were pushing hard for an equaliser with Edwards coming close with a header but seven minutes from the interval the visitors built a good move down their right and when the ball was switched left, Scott Allan had an effort blocked with the ball falling too Nisbet who also had his effort blocked but the ball reached Allan again and he swivelled on his left foot before striking a sweet right footed shot beyond the despairing dive of Trevor Carson. Strangely, the goal came after a period of pressure from United, but it served to give Hibs a decent cushion with the half time whistle not too far away.
With Willie Collum looking at his watch, Paul McGinn appeared to be fouled by Mark Reynolds inside the United box and Willie Collum instantly pointed to the spot. The challenge was at the far end of the pitch for me and so I couldn’t be certain about the award but that mattered not a jot as Martin Boyle kept a cool head to crash the ball past Carson, securing Hibs a 3-0 lead at half time.
During the interval I said to my brother that we needed to keep things tight for the first ten minutes as United would feel aggrieved at being so far behind when they had played pretty well. Indeed, Hibs had chances in that spell to increase their lead, but Allan shot high and Nisbet had a tame effort easily saved by Carson. With the hour mark approaching, Hibs conceded when Pawlett was allowed the time and space to fire the ball past Macey and that got the home fans raising the noise levels. In response, the home side pushed harder and in dealing with a pass back, Matt Macey was caught late by the inrushing Pawlett who should have been booked for the challenge but wasn’t.
After sixty five minutes, a tiring Scott Allan was replaced by Cadden and as Scotty left the pitch, he was given a loud and long standing ovation by the travelling Hibs support. Moments later, Kyle Magennis was sent free by a wonderful Joe Newell pass and as the number 7 strode towards goal he had Nisbet and Boyle free either side of him but elected instead to shoot from the edge of the box with the effort going wide. A poor decision by Kyle as surely a fourth goal would have finished United off.
The hosts then lost McNulty to injury before Boyle had an effort deflected wide by Edwards. The game was really open with both sets of players slugging it out. A United ‘goal’ was disallowed due to the assistant referee raising his flag and I’ve since heard a bit of debate about it whilst travelling back from the game. The TV pictures appeared to show the ‘scorer’ was not offside but if I remember the incident correctly there was a high boot in the build up and so that was maybe the reason for the flag?
With fifteen minutes left, Boyle was booked for a challenge that was almost identical to one carried out on Magennis minutes earlier. That challenge was ignored by Collum. Matt Macey, who had been largely untroubled throughout then produced a fantastic save to touch a low effort, that he must have seen late, around the post for a corner.
Jake Doyle-Hayes was looking tired out by now and Jack Ross replaced him with Gogic whose first contribution was to send a fantastic pass into the path of Martin Boyle whose shot from the angle of the box was deflected for a corner.
Given that he was taking an eternity to take goal kicks it was no real shock that Macey was booked after Collum’s patience had run out. What was also running out was time for United to peg Hibs back and as they continued to push forward there was always the chance Hibs might hit them on the break. The chance was there but never taken, and a flurry of substitutions had little effect on the run of play. Magennis and Nisbet were replaced by Scott and Gullan who tried to push up on United but to little effect. Try as they might, United couldn’t find a way through and as a result, Hibs progressed to the semi final where they will meet the Rangers towards the end of November.
This was a strange game to watch as United had much more of the ball and played some decent football, but they were toothless in attack whist Hibs took the chances offered. Our midfield often looked overwhelmed, and I felt the best displays were from our back four with special mention for Scott Allan thanks to his goal and assist.
The players
Macey – The big fella didn’t really have a lot to do if truth be told. One excellent save in the second half and by and large his taking of high balls into the area was good.
McGinn – For me he is getting back to his best and I paid particular attention to his blocking or otherwise of crosses down their left. Suffice to say there was far more blocking than otherwise.
Porteous – I feared for him when he suffered a nasty head clash with Nisbet as they both jumped for the same ball but clearly Ryan’s head is made of tough stuff. One wee thing – twice or maybe even thrice tonight he hammered a ball high and long into the United half under no real pressure. Odd, to say the least.
Hanlon – A fine performance from our captain and I recall one outstanding last ditch challenge that almost certainly saved a goal after Ryan had gone AWOL.
Stevenson – Lewis has had very few minutes this season, but I thought he was at his very best tonight. Tenacious in the tackle and getting his positioning spot on he is my man of the match.
Doyle-Hayes – Jake put the miles in tonight, and I was a little disappointed to hear some fans around me criticising him for playing the ball back the way on a number of occasions. For me, that ensures retaining possession and is infinitely preferable to an aimless ball forwards. He’s a young lad and is learning in every game.
Newell – His goal was not only a thing of beauty but also a sign of the fact that he does have goals in him. Allan apart I felt he was the best of our midfielders.
Boyle – Clattered early but got up and got on with it. United clearly and unsurprisingly had him marked as a danger and set about filling the space he likes to use. Fuchs was deployed in that area and did a decent job there.
Magennis – Did his Duracell bunny act tonight. What an engine this laddie has. Took the wrong option when shooting rather that laying the ball off at 3-1 but by the same token, it’s hard to criticise a midfielder having a pop at goal when in the recent past we’ve scored so few from that source.
Allan – If we could get that sort of sixty five minutes out of Scotty in every game, I’d have him starting. His assist was precise, and his goal well taken but it should also be said that he performed his defensive duties to great effect tonight.
Nisbet – I’m aware that he was getting a fair bit of criticism for his performance against St Mirren and tonight I could see why. He needs to work a lot harder for the team and stop waving his arms about like a frustrated kid.
Cadden – Got twenty five minutes and didn’t do anything of note really.
Gogic – I’ve been critical of him in the past, but I thought he was bang on the money tonight in terms of breaking up play and protecting the defence.
Scott – I was shaken at how poor he was. No first touch and poor in the air for someone so tall.
Gullan – The laddie knows his days at Hibs are likely numbered, but he worked his socks off for the ten minutes or, so he was on the pitch.
Jack Ross – Baited by Brian McLaughlan I thought he handled the Hearts sympathiser well by talking about Hibs and mentioning 2016.
Referee – Willie Collum was as baffling with his decisions as he always is.
