This is how it feels ( aberdeen 05 10 19)

[Jonnyboy]

When I set off for Aberdeen this morning I certainly didn’t envisage returning home disappointed but the truth is that disappointment is my overriding emotion. This was a game we could and should have won which in itself is a surprising thing to say given our poor league season to date.

With the suspension of Ryan Porteous served the big lad was restored into central defence in place of Adam Jackson, out with a concussion related injury. The only other change saw Middleton drop to the bench with Horgan taking his place in what looked like a 4 2 3 1 formation. For their part, Aberdeen made several changes in the wake of their 5-0 drubbing away to Rangers and so essentially this was two teams yet to find their feet.

The strong wind made for pretty difficult playing conditions but Hibs created an early chance when Allan and Horgan combined to free Doidge in the box. Sadly the big striker delayed his shot, allowing Lewis to close him down. This wouldn’t be the last time in the game that the Hibs striker and Aberdeen keeper came face to face. As usual the hosts were happy to give Allan a hard time and when the Hibs man was fouled around twenty five yards from goal, Mallan stepped aside to let James try his luck with the effort flying just wide, though Lewis looked like he had it covered.

With both sides struggling to master the conditions, chances were few and far between although the Dons created a chance from a corner but the headed effort was well over the bar. Another free kick gave Mallan a chance but Lewis collected the effort before Aberdeen broke downfield and Main flashed a low drive across the box but there were no takers. Lewis Ferguson seemed immune to the ire of a referee who should really have pulled him up for ‘persistent fouling’ but these challenges went unpunished. The same Dons player saw a feeble effort collected by Maxwell and then Hedges fired wide from distance just on the half time whistle. It hadn’t been a great half but I felt Hibs were the better side.

In a cracking start to the second half, Porteous gave the visitors the lead. It came from a well worked corner that witnessed a shot from James hitting a Dons defender before landing at the feet of Porteous and the big fella wasted no time in drilling the ball past Lewis. Hibs had the upper hand now and the home fans were not happy. Their mood was not helped when moments later Doidge escaped his marker, was through on goal but once again dallied and allowed Lewis to block the effort.

The home stands at Pittodrie were silenced around the hour mark when a lunging challenge by Main on Mallan saw the Dons striker getting a straight red card. It was a foolish challenge but the referee, rightly in my view, deemed it to be both aggressive and out of control. Doidge was through again to run on to a Hallberg pass but once again Lewis thwarted the Hibs man. I said it at the match and I’ll say it again here, Kamberi would not have wasted those chances.

Aberdeen made a couple of changes by bringing on Gallagher and McGinn and before long the ten men had tested Maxwell through Gallagher and hit the post through McGinn. For reasons only our players could explain, we dropped off and allowed the ten men to take the upper hand. I do not believe for one minute that this happened under instruction from Heckingbottom and indeed every time I glanced at the bench he appeared to be roaring at his players to move ten or fifteen yards up the pitch.

Hibs did get forward again though and a fabulous pass from Stevenson put Doidge through on goal but with Scott Allan waiting totally unmarked in the middle, Doidge decided to go it alone and was once again thwarted by Lewis. For me that particular failure to score was unforgivable and Hibs paid the penalty when the Dons equalised with around five minutes left. It’s worth noting that the goal came from a cross and was headed home by Cosgrove. It’s also worth mentioning that in the lead up to that goal, Cosgrove kicked out at Middleton right in front of the assistant referee who flagged immediately. Cosgrove had already been booked and to my mind should have seen red but instead Don Robertson decided to lecture Paul Hanlon for complaining about the challenge. Last week I suggested Kevin Clancy had bottled out of the Ntcham incident and this week the bottler award goes to Don Robertson.

We were now in the ridiculous position of holding on for a point and only stout defending kept the hosts out. The action was not yet over however as deep into time added on, Lewis Ferguson’s luck ran out when he was shown a straight red for a quite shocking tackle on Mallan. From the resultant free kick Hibs broke down the right and Middleton cut the ball back to the eighteen yard line but the onrushing Kamberi fired wildly over and the game was finished.

As I said at the beginning my overriding emotion is disappointment as I felt we deserved the win but when your principal striker spurns no fewer than four chances you are always going to struggle to take all three points. When the final whistle blew a fair number of Hibs fans booed and so showed their own disappointment I guess but cast your mind back a few weeks when it was being widely predicted we’d go out of the cup and get horsed by Celtic and Aberdeen. Surely some credit has been earned by the actual outcomes?

The players

Maxwell – I don’t think he had very much to do during the game if I’m honest in making a couple of routine saves and a good few occasions of coming out to claim high balls.

James – Was getting pelters from some folk behind me but I thought he did ok. Yes, he doesn’t close down opposition players as quickly as I’d like but I feel his confidence is growing.

Porteous – A warrior and a Hibee warrior at that. Ryan was immense throughout and although it was probably him that Cosgrove got the better of for the equaliser I cannot see past him for my man of the match award.

Hanlon – Paul found Cosgrove a handful at times but Main caused him no problems whatsoever and over the piece I felt he did his job well. I’d love to know what Don Robertson said to him following the referee’s bottling incident.

Stevenson – Defended stoutly and got forward plenty. One superb first half cross was begging to be put away and his through ball for one of the many Doidge misses was sublime.

Hallberg – I thought he had a great game and his confidence is growing together with his fitness. He and Vela combine well and I see a good partnership growing.

Vela – Some of the comments regarding his performance against Celtic were baffling to me as he did then what he did today, got about the park, always made himself available for a pass and tackled when the need arose.

Mallan – He’ll be bruised tonight having been put up in the air by both Main and Ferguson. An industrious performance from Stevie.

Allan – For me we are still to see the Scott Allan who excited us in his previous stints at Hibs. One or two trademark passes but too often caught in possession for my liking.

Horgan – I really don’t see what Daryl offers to the team. Other than one good pass to Doidge early in the game he was pretty well anonymous for the remainder of his time on the pitch. His annoying habit of going towards an opponent as if to challenge, only to then do this kinda weird sideways dance in front of him, gets right on my thruppnies.

Doidge – What can I say about a striker that has four gilt edged chances to score and hits the keeper with every one? Nothing good is the answer.

Middleton – Replaced Horgan but offered little more than the Irishman.

Kamberi – Should have been on earlier and as I suggested earlier, had Kamberi been given the chances missed by Doidge we’d have won the game at a canter.

Newell – Helped us defend when ten man Aberdeen were pushing hard but I don’t recall anything of note about his performance.

Hecky – A few booed him when he came to the fans at the end but I have to say I think that was unfair. His selection and tactics would have worked a treat if Doidge had done his job.

The fans – A good following but I am of the view that there are some complete loop jobs in our away support. Why travel 120 miles to spend ninety minutes shouting obscenities at the Dons support?

Don Robertson – I’ve seen worse refereeing performances but his bottling out of giving Cosgrove a deserved second yellow was completely baffling.

[Lago]

Excellent & well balanced report as usual. Certainly makes some of the comments I've read on here a little hysterical.

[hibsbollah]

Always good to read, thanks.

A point at Aberdeen isn't something previous managers have found easy to get.

But I return to the point I made earlier, are the players getting an easier ride than they deserve because everyone's decided the manager is the fall guy?

[judas]

Great report. Rational as ever.

[I_Love_Latapy]

Tom James my MoM. Agree Horgan was weakest link. Doidge was clearly livid at himself and rightly so, but think he deserves some credit for leading the line & good movement. As I said at the game, Kamberi would have scored one of those chances, but not convinced he would have created them.

[BILLYHIBS]

Thanks for posting Jonnyboy

As usual an excellent and well balanced report

After his two to three misses versus St Mirren and a fighting performance versus Celtic I was hopeful for Doidge and was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt but it sounds as if going by your report he is not the answer

We are a top class professional football club and we need players to take responsibility and take the few opportunities we are creating at this point in time if we do not take them it is going to be a long hard season for everyone connected to our football club

Rant over!

Many thanks once again Jonnyboy your match reports are greatly appreciated and as usual this one was right on the button

Hibs class

[JohnM1875]

This is a genuine question cause I wasn't there today, so I'm looking to folk who were. But, how many of Doidge's chances do you think Flo would have had the movement to create?

It's like if we could merge both them into one striker we'd have a good one on our hands.

[The 90+2]

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This is a genuine question cause I wasn't there today, so I'm looking to folk who were. But, how many of Doidge's chances do you think Flo would have had the movement to create?

It's like if we could merge both them into one striker we'd have a good one on our hands.

Kamberis movement is fantastic at the best of times, he’s a smart footballer. It’s presenting him with chances that’s been the main issue.

[JohnM1875]

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Kamberis movement is fantastic at the best of times, he’s a smart footballer. It’s presenting him with chances that’s been the main issue.

It was a genuine question, and I wasn't knocking Flo at all. Think the guy's work rate is unparalleled and I've always liked him. Just can't remember the last time he's been played through and had what, three one on one chances in one game?

[ancient hibee]

Doidge is so slow.One of the reasons Allan is often caught in possession is the lack of movement by players to take a pass.If a manager picks a player and that player has a disastrous game then the manager bears the responsibility because the most important part of the manager’s job is putting the right team on the park.

[brog]

Great report as ever John. Only thing I can say about Doidge is there was another striker on show today, Cosgrove, whose initial record at Dons was worse than CD's is at Hibs. I actually think they're quite similar, hardworking hold up strikers who are not natural goalscorers & yet Cosgrove scores for fun now. Maybe the same will happen with Doidge, I hope so for his & our sakes.

[FilipinoHibs]

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Tom James my MoM. Agree Horgan was weakest link. Doidge was clearly livid at himself and rightly so, but think he deserves some credit for leading the line & good movement. As I said at the game, Kamberi would have scored one of those chances, but not convinced he would have created them.

Doidge did not create those chances. They were made for him Flo quite competent at running into space when an opposition 10 man team stretched.

[JohnM1875]

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Doidge did not create those chances. They were made for him Flo quite competent at running into space when an opposition 10 man team stretched.

Doidge was in the position to receive those chances though. So, it would seem he helped create them.

If Flo stayed as central as Doidge I'm sure he'd be there to receive them. Flo needs to learn to conserve energy and how to play through the middle. There's not a doubt in my mind who's a better player out of the two. Flo just needs to learn how to play up top.

[Stuart93]

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Doidge was in the position to receive those chances though. So, it would seem he helped create them.

If Flo stayed as central as Doidge I'm sure he'd be there to receive them. Flo needs to learn to conserve energy and how to play through the middle. There's not a doubt in my mind who's a better player out of the two. Flo just needs to learn how to play up top.

I said this earlier

If we could merge Flo’s goalscoring and Doidge’s movement/loan striker play we’d have a player.

Flo drops deep looking for the ball seen him do it against hearts and leaves no one up top and when the midfield pick the ball up they have no one ahead of them

Still think the best way to see us scoring again is both of them up top. Surely he has to try it

[Hi Heid Yin]

A great insight into the game.
Thank you Jonnyboy.

[Dalianwanda]

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When I set off for Aberdeen this morning I certainly didn’t envisage returning home disappointed but the truth is that disappointment is my overriding emotion. This was a game we could and should have won which in itself is a surprising thing to say given our poor league season to date.

With the suspension of Ryan Porteous served the big lad was restored into central defence in place of Adam Jackson, out with a concussion related injury. The only other change saw Middleton drop to the bench with Horgan taking his place in what looked like a 4 2 3 1 formation. For their part, Aberdeen made several changes in the wake of their 5-0 drubbing away to Rangers and so essentially this was two teams yet to find their feet.

The strong wind made for pretty difficult playing conditions but Hibs created an early chance when Allan and Horgan combined to free Doidge in the box. Sadly the big striker delayed his shot, allowing Lewis to close him down. This wouldn’t be the last time in the game that the Hibs striker and Aberdeen keeper came face to face. As usual the hosts were happy to give Allan a hard time and when the Hibs man was fouled around twenty five yards from goal, Mallan stepped aside to let James try his luck with the effort flying just wide, though Lewis looked like he had it covered.

With both sides struggling to master the conditions, chances were few and far between although the Dons created a chance from a corner but the headed effort was well over the bar. Another free kick gave Mallan a chance but Lewis collected the effort before Aberdeen broke downfield and Main flashed a low drive across the box but there were no takers. Lewis Ferguson seemed immune to the ire of a referee who should really have pulled him up for ‘persistent fouling’ but these challenges went unpunished. The same Dons player saw a feeble effort collected by Maxwell and then Hedges fired wide from distance just on the half time whistle. It hadn’t been a great half but I felt Hibs were the better side.

In a cracking start to the second half, Porteous gave the visitors the lead. It came from a well worked corner that witnessed a shot from James hitting a Dons defender before landing at the feet of Porteous and the big fella wasted no time in drilling the ball past Lewis. Hibs had the upper hand now and the home fans were not happy. Their mood was not helped when moments later Doidge escaped his marker, was through on goal but once again dallied and allowed Lewis to block the effort.

The home stands at Pittodrie were silenced around the hour mark when a lunging challenge by Main on Mallan saw the Dons striker getting a straight red card. It was a foolish challenge but the referee, rightly in my view, deemed it to be both aggressive and out of control. Doidge was through again to run on to a Hallberg pass but once again Lewis thwarted the Hibs man. I said it at the match and I’ll say it again here, Kamberi would not have wasted those chances.

Aberdeen made a couple of changes by bringing on Gallagher and McGinn and before long the ten men had tested Maxwell through Gallagher and hit the post through McGinn. For reasons only our players could explain, we dropped off and allowed the ten men to take the upper hand. I do not believe for one minute that this happened under instruction from Heckingbottom and indeed every time I glanced at the bench he appeared to be roaring at his players to move ten or fifteen yards up the pitch.

Hibs did get forward again though and a fabulous pass from Stevenson put Doidge through on goal but with Scott Allan waiting totally unmarked in the middle, Doidge decided to go it alone and was once again thwarted by Lewis. For me that particular failure to score was unforgivable and Hibs paid the penalty when the Dons equalised with around five minutes left. It’s worth noting that the goal came from a cross and was headed home by Cosgrove. It’s also worth mentioning that in the lead up to that goal, Cosgrove kicked out at Middleton right in front of the assistant referee who flagged immediately. Cosgrove had already been booked and to my mind should have seen red but instead Don Robertson decided to lecture Paul Hanlon for complaining about the challenge. Last week I suggested Kevin Clancy had bottled out of the Ntcham incident and this week the bottler award goes to Don Robertson.

We were now in the ridiculous position of holding on for a point and only stout defending kept the hosts out. The action was not yet over however as deep into time added on, Lewis Ferguson’s luck ran out when he was shown a straight red for a quite shocking tackle on Mallan. From the resultant free kick Hibs broke down the right and Middleton cut the ball back to the eighteen yard line but the onrushing Kamberi fired wildly over and the game was finished.

As I said at the beginning my overriding emotion is disappointment as I felt we deserved the win but when your principal striker spurns no fewer than four chances you are always going to struggle to take all three points. When the final whistle blew a fair number of Hibs fans booed and so showed their own disappointment I guess but cast your mind back a few weeks when it was being widely predicted we’d go out of the cup and get horsed by Celtic and Aberdeen. Surely some credit has been earned by the actual outcomes?

The players

Maxwell – I don’t think he had very much to do during the game if I’m honest in making a couple of routine saves and a good few occasions of coming out to claim high balls.

James – Was getting pelters from some folk behind me but I thought he did ok. Yes, he doesn’t close down opposition players as quickly as I’d like but I feel his confidence is growing.

Porteous – A warrior and a Hibee warrior at that. Ryan was immense throughout and although it was probably him that Cosgrove got the better of for the equaliser I cannot see past him for my man of the match award.

Hanlon – Paul found Cosgrove a handful at times but Main caused him no problems whatsoever and over the piece I felt he did his job well. I’d love to know what Don Robertson said to him following the referee’s bottling incident.

Stevenson – Defended stoutly and got forward plenty. One superb first half cross was begging to be put away and his through ball for one of the many Doidge misses was sublime.

Hallberg – I thought he had a great game and his confidence is growing together with his fitness. He and Vela combine well and I see a good partnership growing.

Vela – Some of the comments regarding his performance against Celtic were baffling to me as he did then what he did today, got about the park, always made himself available for a pass and tackled when the need arose.

Mallan – He’ll be bruised tonight having been put up in the air by both Main and Ferguson. An industrious performance from Stevie.

Allan – For me we are still to see the Scott Allan who excited us in his previous stints at Hibs. One or two trademark passes but too often caught in possession for my liking.

Horgan – I really don’t see what Daryl offers to the team. Other than one good pass to Doidge early in the game he was pretty well anonymous for the remainder of his time on the pitch. His annoying habit of going towards an opponent as if to challenge, only to then do this kinda weird sideways dance in front of him, gets right on my thruppnies.

Doidge – What can I say about a striker that has four gilt edged chances to score and hits the keeper with every one? Nothing good is the answer.

Middleton – Replaced Horgan but offered little more than the Irishman.

Kamberi – Should have been on earlier and as I suggested earlier, had Kamberi been given the chances missed by Doidge we’d have won the game at a canter.

Newell – Helped us defend when ten man Aberdeen were pushing hard but I don’t recall anything of note about his performance.

Hecky – A few booed him when he came to the fans at the end but I have to say I think that was unfair. His selection and tactics would have worked a treat if Doidge had done his job.

The fans – A good following but I am of the view that there are some complete loop jobs in our away support. Why travel 120 miles to spend ninety minutes shouting obscenities at the Dons support?

Don Robertson – I’ve seen worse refereeing performances but his bottling out of giving Cosgrove a deserved second yellow was completely baffling.

Thanks for this, refreshing to read something with balance.

[hibee-boys]

Middleton, Horgan, Newell have offered very little this year. Really hope when Boyle returns we see the Boyle of old as we really have missed that spark.

[Baldy Foghorn]

James starting to win me over.

Ryan was immense.

Horgan ineffective, Doidge profligate.

Lewis - special mention of his last ditch tackle, after they struck the post

[Since452]

Confused reading that report. I thought Hecky now had to leave because we were so poor. Sounds like if Doidge had had his shooting boots on it would have been a rout and Aberdeen escaped?

[bigwheel]

Thought it looked our best performance of the season ...and we created chances - which was quite a change from recent matches. Doidge had two real sitters , one of them he took a bad touch and really impacted the chance ...The others were half chances at best ..

Hallberg and Vela getting better ..

Porto outstanding ..

Newell was a strange choice for me ..why not Whittaker ?

Manager clearly doesn’t rate Fraser Murray - which spooks me - as he seems to have a lot of qualities to make it

The hysteria about Doidge is way over the top . Have seen Kamberi miss those types many times too ..

the lack of a McNulty type that is really costing us this season ..

[weecounty hibby]

Thanks for that. Makes a change from the rest of the hysteria on the main board at the moment. Sounds like the tactics were fine, we played ok and but for Doidge missing some very good chances we would have won the game.

[hibbydog]

‘Gets right on my thruppenies’ 😃

[FilipinoHibs]

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Thought it looked our best performance of the season ...and we created chances - which was quite a change from recent matches. Doidge had two real sitters , one of them he took a bad touch and really impacted the chance ...The others were half chances at best ..

Hallberg and Vela getting better ..

Porto outstanding ..

Newell was a strange choice for me ..why not Whittaker ?

Manager clearly doesn’t rate Fraser Murray - which spooks me - as he seems to have a lot of qualities to make it

The hysteria about Doidge is way over the top . Have seen Kamberi miss those types many times too ..

the lack of a McNulty type that is really costing us this season ..

Not four in a match with his head down firing at the keeper at point blank range with no awareness of where his team mates where.

[bigwheel]

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Not four in a match with his head down firing at the keeper at point blank range with no awareness of where his team mates where.

As you will have seen only two were quality chances. The other two were half chances ...one of them was barely that

Still should have scored a couple though

[Brightside]

Should Porto have done better with the Aberdeen goal?

[brog]

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Should Porto have done better with the Aberdeen goal?

Yes & by his reaction he knew it. Great young player but that's 2 set pieces where he's been out muscled by his man & it's cost us points. As long as he continues to develop we'll have to recognise it's part of his learning process. Just glad it wasn't Paul H! 😊

[Jonnyboy]

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Yes & by his reaction he knew it. Great young player but that's 2 set pieces where he's been out muscled by his man & it's cost us points. As long as he continues to develop we'll have to recognise it's part of his learning process. Just glad it wasn't Paul H! 😊

Yep, Paul would have been hung out to dry. It was a costly error but Ryan seems the sort that will learn and improve as a result. 👍

[Hermit Crab]

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Yep, Paul would have been hung out to dry. It was a costly error but Ryan seems the sort that will learn and improve as a result. 👍

As a very experienced long standing senior defender at the club as well as captain he would have been and rightly so.

[Hermit Crab]

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Confused reading that report. I thought Hecky now had to leave because we were so poor. Sounds like if Doidge had had his shooting boots on it would have been a rout and Aberdeen escaped?

Don't forget Aberdeen played the last 35 minutes with 10 men, thats why we had some very good chances as we kept catching Aberdeen on the break. At times we were backs to the wall being dominated by 10 men.

[number9dream]

Is the opening sentence of the report missing "with a point" or "after a draw" or was the author just feeling particularly upbeat beforehand?

Poor old Doidge has got two weeks to stew over those misses. The last one was criminal, with Allan waving his arms and screaming for a pass.
The balance of the team is still not right but at least there is a bit of dig that was missing earlier on in the season.
There needs to be a big improvement as an attacking threat over the next three matches.