First Time this season! I really enjoyed that! (merged)

[Stantons Angel]

Was at Easter Road to night for a really good game of football. 12,300 crowd and the pitch looking wonderful under the floodlights.

Its the first time this season i have come away having enjoyed my football and Hibs werent even playing!!

Well done to the young players for giving their all in their country's jersey. Im sure if we had scored early on the confidence would have carried them through.

Well done to the public for turning up to show Edinburgh does need international football in the Capital city.

[Hibbyradge]

How refreshing to see a team play with some passion and heart for a change.

The under 21's were up against a much stronger and bigger Iceland team who had 7 full internationalists in their side, but we controlled large periods of the game without being able to get the all important breakthrough.

We had flair, invention, patience, width and scored a wonder goal.. And we ended the game with 4 strikers on the park!Oh how I wish the full team, and Hibs, would emulate these youngsters.

Well done Scotland and Billy Stark. Better luck next time.

PS That was my first time in the new east stand. The stadium looks fantastic.

[BroxburnHibee]

Yep - excellent stuff.

Shame about the result but was great to walk away from ER having enjoyed the experience

[bigstu]

its been a long time coming, an exciting performance from the home team at ER. Roll on our new manager & hopefully some new players who give a crap like the young guys did tonight

[The Harp Awakes]

Can't remember the last time a Scotland team at U21 or full international level knocked the ball about like that. Superb to watch and very unlucky to lose on the night. Billy Stark has done really well and would be a great appoinntment for Hibs if the rumours prove true.

[Hiber-nation]

Really enjoyed that - never knew Chris Maguire was anywhere near as good as that. Thought he was different class, and wee Bannan looks a great prospect - not that he'd ever get into a Levein squad though

[The Harp Awakes]

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Really enjoyed that - never knew Chris Maguire was anywhere near as good as that. Thought he was different class, and wee Bannan looks a great prospect - not that he'd ever get into a Levein squad though

Exactly what went through my mind when watching the wee guy. In fact hardly any of the Scotland U21 team will ever be called up by Levein because none of them 6 foot+ donkeys and they are far too attack minded.

[givescotlandfreedom]

That's the best football I've seen played at ER for a long time! Despite the result it was a really game.

[Dirkster23]

A really enjoyable game tonight, just a pity we couldn' get the first goal. Thought both teams played nice stuff and it could have gone either way.

As others have said, what a difference walking out of ER knowing you'd watched a decent game of football

[Sir David Gray]

I thought Scotland were really good in the first half, unlucky not to be in front at half time and Barry Bannan was absolutely outstanding in that first 45 minutes as well, he tore their defenders to shreds at times. He will surely be a future star at international and club level. The galling thing is that you struggle to see where an inventive and exciting player like him will fit in with the boring and ultra-defensive formation that Levein is adopting just now.

It was really encouraging to see a Scotland side knocking the ball about and having a bit of urgency about them. They didn't just look to knock the ball long and hope for the best.

Iceland scored two great goals and they certainly came into it more in the second half.

I have to mention Chris Maguire's goal, though. That was a fantastic finish and it's just a pity that it didn't win the match because it deserved to win any game of football. I thought Maguire's overall play was terrific tonight as well and if it hadn't been for Bannan, he would have been my man of the match. Before tonight, I didn't honestly think he was capable of playing like that as I haven't really seen him play like that for Aberdeen.

Very good display by the youngsters overall and it's just a real shame that they haven't made it to the finals because I think their performance deserved more.

[Jim44]

I enjoyed watching it on Telly but it was spoiled by Ian Crocker reminding us regularly that Hibs hadn't won there since March and that the stadium held no fears for the Icelandic Jambo who had played there seven times without being on the losing side.

[blairwallace]

no one going to mention the cracking goal we scored?! that goal or mikey stewards goal v Aberdeen has to be one of the best goals I've ever seen at ER!!!! wotherspoon was fantastic as well! Petrie get that bannan guy signed up!

[hibee bouncer]

Here's hoping the full team watched that performance tonight. That's how to play football and how to play for the jersey!

[blairwallace]

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I enjoyed watching it on Telly but it was spoiled by Ian Crocker reminding us regularly that Hibs hadn't won there since March and that the stadium held no fears for the Icelandic Jambo who had played there seven times without being on the losing side.

he's lost once there

[Jim44]

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he's lost once there

.......well that makes me feel much better.

[Bishop Hibee]

An enjoyable evening apart from the result! Every Iceland player was over 6 feet tall and yet we competed really well and with just a bit more craft in the centre of the park we could have won it.

Both Iceland's goals were superb finishes although that boy looks about 25 not under 21! Bannan and Maguire stood out and Maguire's goal was an outstanding piece of skill. Wotherspoon and Hanlon played well too.

Hope for the future although Bannan apart, I don't think any of that XI are ready for the big squad yet. Spoony's time will come though.

[Deek01]

especially in the first half i thought caddis was terrific !, shame we didn't try and get him when we were crying out for a right back.

[Nakedmanoncrack]

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Really enjoyed that - never knew Chris Maguire was anywhere near as good as that. Thought he was different class, and wee Bannan looks a great prospect - not that he'd ever get into a Levein squad though

I thought Bannan & Maguire were outstanding.

[bandylegs_jLeighton]

Before we conceded the first goal the game had gone really flat and the Scottish team were crying out for some changes.
Wotherspoon and the no. 6 looked like they were blowing out their ***** at that point, and Murphy hadn't made any decent contributions since the first 45.
If Stark had freshened it up before the first goal I think we could have rediscovered some of our first half momentum.
However, a considerably better performance than we were forced to endure on Friday, and some cracking goals.



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[CB_NO3]

Not trying to be negative but is that all we have to be proud about now, competing with Iceland, we hardly created a chance in the second half. That left winger was good first half but Iceland changed their right back second half and he never got a sniff, plus he is 2 stone under weight. The best player Goodwillie got 10 mins and that idiot Stark would not make changes. We dominated possession but they were never under threat. Decent atmosphere, but if thats the future of Scottish football then we are in serious trouble.

[Auckland Hibs]

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Not trying to be negative but is that all we have to be proud about now, competing with Iceland, we hardly created a chance in the second half. That left winger was good first half but Iceland changed their right back second half and he never got a sniff, plus he is 2 stone under weight. The best player Goodwillie got 10 mins and that idiot Stark would not make changes. We dominated possession but they were never under threat. Decent atmosphere, but if thats the future of Scottish football then we are in serious trouble.

[tam4hibs]

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Agree with what he said...

Think your speaking total bollocks IMHO.

As mentioned, Iceland had many fully fledged Internationals in their team which, given their size, made life tough for us. They aint no mugs: recently gubbed a very good German youth side IIRC.

Our ball retention was fantastic, some great wing play with some neat passing. We struggled to find a killer touch in the box and I believe that was due to the solid display of their CH's.

Overall, great night. Would much rather watch that again that a 4-6-0 senior squad camped in their own half.

Good effore boys, no shame in losing to that team. Hopefuly the experience will make you better for it and please ignore such earlier posts who are far too quick to write off youngeters.

'If thats the future of Scottish fans then we are in serious trouble' should be the quote.

[euro Hibby]

Our negative poster does have a couple of points. I think Stark could have made a couple of changes earlier as things had gone flat in areas where we could score goals. Bananan was not as effective second half as he possibly used up a lot of energy in a great first half.

Being beaten by this Iclandic team is no disgrace. They have been playing as a unit since the under 17's and a few of them are well above average for their age in any country.
As for the future, we will see. Unfortunately a lot of Under 21 starlets fall by the wayside and possibly 3 or 4 max will be go onto the full national team.
I enjoyed the game. Two teams wanting to win and to entertain with alot at stake !

[Part/Time Supporter]

The thing that would concern me about the Scotland team is that the only "can't miss" prospect is Wilson. Iceland had more players who I think will make an impression at a high level (Sigurdsson and Gudmundsson most obviously). I think it was only a reasonably close tie because they had one or two players who struggled, particularly the goalkeeper and the full backs in the first half.

[seanraff07]

Really enjoyed the game last night, best game of football i've been at in months! Went right to the back of the East, what a view!

[CB_NO3]

The end of the day the future of Icelandic football looks better than the future of Scottish football, thats the facts, if yous are happy with that then good on yous. The fact that they had full internationals in their team proves that they have better players. Its not as if they were 30 year old men. As someone said you will be lucky to get 3 players that move onto the full team in Scotland.

[MB62]

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Not trying to be negative but is that all we have to be proud about now, competing with Iceland, we hardly created a chance in the second half. That left winger was good first half but Iceland changed their right back second half and he never got a sniff, plus he is 2 stone under weight. The best player Goodwillie got 10 mins and that idiot Stark would not make changes. We dominated possession but they were never under threat. Decent atmosphere, but if thats the future of Scottish football then we are in serious trouble.

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Agree with what he said...

Think your speaking total bollocks IMHO.

As mentioned, Iceland had many fully fledged Internationals in their team which, given their size, made life tough for us. They aint no mugs: recently gubbed a very good German youth side IIRC.

Our ball retention was fantastic, some great wing play with some neat passing. We struggled to find a killer touch in the box and I believe that was due to the solid display of their CH's.

Overall, great night. Would much rather watch that again that a 4-6-0 senior squad camped in their own half.

Good effore boys, no shame in losing to that team. Hopefuly the experience will make you better for it and please ignore such earlier posts who are far too quick to write off youngeters.

'If thats the future of Scottish fans then we are in serious trouble' should be the quote.

I don't think he is speaking total bollocks, in fact probably calls a lot of things correct.

I thought at the game that we were needing to freshen up the midfield, just before they scored, our lads had ran their hearts out on a big pitch.
It was also obvious from about 5 minutes in that their big Number 10 (their goalscorer) was running the show in the hole between midfield and strikers and we really needed somebody man marking him, which never happened.

However, that was the negatives, which I had never intended mentioning, from what was a thoroughly enjoyable game and I was really proud of every single player in the Scotland jersey. They gave their all, the passed the ball well and did it all AT PACE.
We even played with something called 'a winger' I have heard this expression but they had died with the Dodo, or was it with the Yogi?

I too was really impressed with Maguire, never thought he was all that good but if he could produce that every week, that laddie will be a star. Although it's a bit unfair to single him out as there were many very good performances last night and I really felt we deserved to win that game, certainly didn't deserve to lose it.

I have to say, watching the young Scottish team last night has given me a bit of enthusiasm back for the game and I would happily pay to watch that every week.

[ronaldo7]

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Before we conceded the first goal the game had gone really flat and the Scottish team were crying out for some changes.
Wotherspoon and the no. 6 looked like they were blowing out their ***** at that point, and Murphy hadn't made any decent contributions since the first 45.
If Stark had freshened it up before the first goal I think we could have rediscovered some of our first half momentum.
However, a considerably better performance than we were forced to endure on Friday, and some cracking game

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[Part/Time Supporter]

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The end of the day the future of Icelandic football looks better than the future of Scottish football, thats the facts, if yous are happy with that then good on yous. The fact that they had full internationals in their team proves that they have better players. Its not as if they were 30 year old men. As someone said you will be lucky to get 3 players that move onto the full team in Scotland.

Not necessarily, as you are more liable to get younger players playing in the full international team of a smaller country due to the shallowness of the player pool. One of Iceland's "full internationals" is Eggert Jonsson FFS. It normally takes an exceptional to play at a young age for a bigger country (ie Maradona and Pele played at 16/17 for their national team).

Where Iceland really strengthened their U21 team was demoting Sigurdsson in particular. In reality he would be a first pick for their full team as well. They sacrificed any remote chance of getting results in their full qualifiers in order to qualify for the U21 tournament.

[Sir David Gray]

I meant to mention this earlier on but did anyone else see the massive saltire in the East stand last night with "Dalbeattie Jambo" written on it?

I nearly dropped when I turned round and noticed it.