This is how it feels (Dundee 28 11 20)

[Jonnyboy]

For the second time inside a fortnight, Hibs faced up to Dundee side knowing that last time out they’d secured a 4-1 win. James McPake had made a raft of changes whilst for Hibs, there was no place in the starting eleven for Gogic, a fact that troubled me insofar as his substitution in the game against St. Johnstone weakened us considerably as a central pairing of Newell and Mallan provided little or no physicality. Paul Hanlon was left out as a precaution and so Darren McGregor took the captains arm band and partnered Ryan Porteous in central defence.

In a slow start, Hibs might have snatched a lead but McGregor’s effort from close in flew over the bar with Daz claiming he had been fouled, not a view shared by the referee, however. The visitors were mixing it from the start and two bookings in the first eight minutes had Willie Collum speaking to Charlie Adam suggesting that he and his colleagues needed to calm down. The treatment of Martin Boyle in particular was shocking. Breaking away from his opponent he was cynically hacked down, not just a heel clip to stop progress but a full blooded kick out that could have caused injury.

The game had started slowly as I said and other than a couple of half chances for each side the whole thing was a hard watch. Nisbet might have done better from the edge of the box when he turned his marker, but he blasted the ball high over the bar with his left foot. It has to be noted that the busiest man on the park was Willie Collum as both sides fouled repeatedly, making a poor game even poorer with the stop start nature of proceedings.

A silly free kick some twenty yards from the home goal allowed Charlie Adam to get a strike away but his effort hit the wall and went out for a corner that came to nothing. Clearly frustrated at the lack of protection afforded to him, Martin Boyle took out his own frustration in fouling Elliott and to be honest I didn’t blame him.

An effort from Newell flew harmlessly wide and then Jakubiak suffered a similar outcome at the other end. Charlie Adam was leading a charmed life, committing fouls on a regular basis, and escaping a yellow card from Collum.

When Boyle escaped his marker down the right his low cross into the box struck the front post and flew straight to the feet of Kevin Nisbet, some twelve yards out. I still can’t believe that he crashed that golden opportunity to score, over the bar.

Right on the stroke of half time a clever first touch by Nisbet gave him the room to send Murphy free down the left. Hibs players were charging forward in numbers, with Boyle unceremoniously felled to stop his progress but, in any event, Murphy didn’t need any help as he steered a fine effort across the diving Hamilton and into the far corner. That goal brought huge relief to me and I’m absolutely certain I wasn’t alone at that point.

Whatever was said at half time, Hibs came out of the blocks at the start of the second half although there was relief when McGowan could only head a cross weakly into the waiting arms of Marciano. Barely five minutes had elapsed when Jack Ross decided to replace Stevie Mallan with Melker Hallberg, and it is safe to say that Mallan looked none too pleased about that. Sure, Stevie hadn’t had a great first half, but he was no worse than Newell survived the full ninety minutes.

There was a scare when a long throw by Fontaine reached Jakubiak with the Dundee man flicking an effort on to the crossbar before driving home the rebound, but he was correctly called offside.

Soon after that change, Doidge had a decent effort blocked and then Newell blasted high and wide from a good position. Dundee were not enjoying as much possession as they had in the first half and what possession they did have didn’t result on Marciano being called upon to make a save.

With around fifteen minutes left, Kevin Nisbet was replaced by Jamie Gullan with the substitute getting involved quickly in creating a decent chance for Boyle but sadly, Martin’s effort was poor. At the other end, Adam was afforded too much time and space but his left footed effort from just outside the box went well wide of the target. With ten minutes left, Drey Wright replaced Murphy and within a minute he had tested Hamilton in the Dundee goal. The build up had been good with Hallberg’s pass finding Boyle who picked out Wright on the edge of the box. The substitute flicked the ball up with his left foot and struck a volley with his right but unfortunately it was straight at Hamilton.

The game just petered out after that and in keeping a clean sheet whilst also scoring through Murphy, Hibs went into the hat for the draw on Sunday. In my honest view I thought we were really poor for large parts of the game but given that Rocky had an easy afternoon of it we clearly defended well and so I guess we deserve to be in that draw.

The players

Marciano – As quiet a game as he is ever likely to have.

McGinn – Paul was as solid as ever and even got forward enough to suggest he was looking to add to his recent goal tally.

McGregor – Big Daz was a colossus in the air and gave Afolabi little to work on.

Porteous – Another solid display from Ryan. Yes, he has the odd brainstorm but over the piece he did well in contributing to a clean sheet.

Mackie – Sean had an excellent game, bombing up and down that wing, defending stoutly and always willing to join the attack. He wins my man of the match award.

Boyle – Hacked down repeatedly he got up and got on with it. Little evidence of him in the first half when frankly every Hibs midfielder could join him in that regard, I thought he came onto a game in the second.

Mallan – Poor in the first half although he did have company in that respect. One or two fine passes to be fair. I’m slightly baffled that he was replaced so early in the second half and can only guess that JR maybe gave him a specific job to do and he wasn’t doing it.

Newell – I really like Joe but he was poor today and offered next to nothing in a creative sense.

Murphy – Jamie was anonymous for large parts of the game but his run and finish for the goal was top class and when he did get on the ball he at least tried to move us forward.

Doidge – Christian looked as though he’s not fully over the knock that kept him out and if truth be told I’d have replaced him rather than Nisbet when Jamie Gullan came on.

Nisbet – Missing two good opportunities is completely out of character for Kevin but his turn and through ball for the winner was excellent.

Hallberg – Melker’s a difficult one to summarise on. He did ok without being outstanding and I can’t think of anything worthy of criticism.

Gullan – Jamie looked lively when he came on and certainly had their defenders sitting deeper to combat his pace.

Wright – Drey didn’t get long but he impressed me with his control and effort on goal from the Boyle pass.

Jack Ross – Am curious to read of his view on things. He surely cannot be pleased with that performance, even though we won.

Referee – Willie Collum – Whistle happy as always, he seemed to have a blind spot when it came to Charlie Adam as the ex-Rangers man fouled his way through the game.

[Mango Man]

That's pretty much how I seen it too. Newall isn't quite convincing me, he has good feet and quite a clever player, but is slow, has a real lack of urgency, and not too much of a goal threat either, him and Mallan definitely don't work together for sure.

Impressed with Mackie also, not everything came off for him today, but he's always involved and has bags of energy.

[Northernhibee]

I agree with almost all of that Jonny, good post. Weirdly I'd like to see Stephen McGinn work with Newell in the centre of the park - not the most technically gifted player but more physical than any other option and is a bit of a leader too by all accounts. One of those partnerships that may be worth more than the sum of its parts.

[The 90+2]

Missed two big players in Gogic and Hanlon today and it showed. We got bullied too much imo.

Mackie has been a real plus recently.

[bigwheel]

Cheees JB. Excellent as ever . I actually thought Hallberg did well when he came on ....brought a bit more steel and used the ball well

McGinn was my MoM.

[Key West]

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For the second time inside a fortnight, Hibs faced up to Dundee side knowing that last time out they’d secured a 4-1 win. James McPake had made a raft of changes whilst for Hibs, there was no place in the starting eleven for Gogic, a fact that troubled me insofar as his substitution in the game against St. Johnstone weakened us considerably as a central pairing of Newell and Mallan provided little or no physicality. Paul Hanlon was left out as a precaution and so Darren McGregor took the captains arm band and partnered Ryan Porteous in central defence.

In a slow start, Hibs might have snatched a lead but McGregor’s effort from close in flew over the bar with Daz claiming he had been fouled, not a view shared by the referee, however. The visitors were mixing it from the start and two bookings in the first eight minutes had Willie Collum speaking to Charlie Adam suggesting that he and his colleagues needed to calm down. The treatment of Martin Boyle in particular was shocking. Breaking away from his opponent he was cynically hacked down, not just a heel clip to stop progress but a full blooded kick out that could have caused injury.

The game had started slowly as I said and other than a couple of half chances for each side the whole thing was a hard watch. Nisbet might have done better from the edge of the box when he turned his marker, but he blasted the ball high over the bar with his left foot. It has to be noted that the busiest man on the park was Willie Collum as both sides fouled repeatedly, making a poor game even poorer with the stop start nature of proceedings.

A silly free kick some twenty yards from the home goal allowed Charlie Adam to get a strike away but his effort hit the wall and went out for a corner that came to nothing. Clearly frustrated at the lack of protection afforded to him, Martin Boyle took out his own frustration in fouling Elliott and to be honest I didn’t blame him.

An effort from Newell flew harmlessly wide and then Jakubiak suffered a similar outcome at the other end. Charlie Adam was leading a charmed life, committing fouls on a regular basis, and escaping a yellow card from Collum.

When Boyle escaped his marker down the right his low cross into the box struck the front post and flew straight to the feet of Kevin Nisbet, some twelve yards out. I still can’t believe that he crashed that golden opportunity to score, over the bar.

Right on the stroke of half time a clever first touch by Nisbet gave him the room to send Murphy free down the left. Hibs players were charging forward in numbers, with Boyle unceremoniously felled to stop his progress but, in any event, Murphy didn’t need any help as he steered a fine effort across the diving Hamilton and into the far corner. That goal brought huge relief to me and I’m absolutely certain I wasn’t alone at that point.

Whatever was said at half time, Hibs came out of the blocks at the start of the second half although there was relief when McGowan could only head a cross weakly into the waiting arms of Marciano. Barely five minutes had elapsed when Jack Ross decided to replace Stevie Mallan with Melker Hallberg, and it is safe to say that Mallan looked none too pleased about that. Sure, Stevie hadn’t had a great first half, but he was no worse than Newell survived the full ninety minutes.

There was a scare when a long throw by Fontaine reached Jakubiak with the Dundee man flicking an effort on to the crossbar before driving home the rebound, but he was correctly called offside.

Soon after that change, Doidge had a decent effort blocked and then Newell blasted high and wide from a good position. Dundee were not enjoying as much possession as they had in the first half and what possession they did have didn’t result on Marciano being called upon to make a save.

With around fifteen minutes left, Kevin Nisbet was replaced by Jamie Gullan with the substitute getting involved quickly in creating a decent chance for Boyle but sadly, Martin’s effort was poor. At the other end, Adam was afforded too much time and space but his left footed effort from just outside the box went well wide of the target. With ten minutes left, Drey Wright replaced Murphy and within a minute he had tested Hamilton in the Dundee goal. The build up had been good with Hallberg’s pass finding Boyle who picked out Wright on the edge of the box. The substitute flicked the ball up with his left foot and struck a volley with his right but unfortunately it was straight at Hamilton.

The game just petered out after that and in keeping a clean sheet whilst also scoring through Murphy, Hibs went into the hat for the draw on Sunday. In my honest view I thought we were really poor for large parts of the game but given that Rocky had an easy afternoon of it we clearly defended well and so I guess we deserve to be in that draw.

The players

Marciano – As quiet a game as he is ever likely to have.

McGinn – Paul was as solid as ever and even got forward enough to suggest he was looking to add to his recent goal tally.

McGregor – Big Daz was a colossus in the air and gave Afolabi little to work on.

Porteous – Another solid display from Ryan. Yes, he has the odd brainstorm but over the piece he did well in contributing to a clean sheet.

Mackie – Sean had an excellent game, bombing up and down that wing, defending stoutly and always willing to join the attack. He wins my man of the match award.

Boyle – Hacked down repeatedly he got up and got on with it. Little evidence of him in the first half when frankly every Hibs midfielder could join him in that regard, I thought he came onto a game in the second.

Mallan – Poor in the first half although he did have company in that respect. One or two fine passes to be fair. I’m slightly baffled that he was replaced so early in the second half and can only guess that JR maybe gave him a specific job to do and he wasn’t doing it.

Newell – I really like Joe but he was poor today and offered next to nothing in a creative sense.

Murphy – Jamie was anonymous for large parts of the game but his run and finish for the goal was top class and when he did get on the ball he at least tried to move us forward.

Doidge – Christian looked as though he’s not fully over the knock that kept him out and if truth be told I’d have replaced him rather than Nisbet when Jamie Gullan came on.

Nisbet – Missing two good opportunities is completely out of character for Kevin but his turn and through ball for the winner was excellent.

Hallberg – Melker’s a difficult one to summarise on. He did ok without being outstanding and I can’t think of anything worthy of criticism.

Gullan – Jamie looked lively when he came on and certainly had their defenders sitting deeper to combat his pace.

Wright – Drey didn’t get long but he impressed me with his control and effort on goal from the Boyle pass.

Jack Ross – Am curious to read of his view on things. He surely cannot be pleased with that performance, even though we won.

Referee – Willie Collum – Whistle happy as always, he seemed to have a blind spot when it came to Charlie Adam as the ex-Rangers man fouled his way through the game.

Rarely do I disagree with your summaries of the games and this is no exception, there’s no easy games and sometimes you are looking for a bit better considering the standard of the opposition but you only have to look at results ie: Hamilton 1 Aberdeen 1 and Alloa 1 Hearts 0 to see that there are no gimmes!

[greenlex]

Agree with all that JC. On today’s performance Hallberg is a step up from both Newall and Mallen.

[Northernhibee]

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Missed two big players in Gogic and Hanlon today and it showed. We got bullied too much imo.

Mackie has been a real plus recently.

Aye, I'd written Mackie off last season, I thought he was lightweight, dreadful at making decisions and nowhere near top flight level. He's been excellent for us this season and although I'm going to be gutted when Stevenson finally does hang up his boots for us, I'm now happy that we have two talented youngsters who I'd trust to step into that position.

[The 90+2]

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Aye, I'd written Mackie off last season, I thought he was lightweight, dreadful at making decisions and nowhere near top flight level. He's been excellent for us this season and although I'm going to be gutted when Stevenson finally does hang up his boots for us, I'm now happy that we have two talented youngsters who I'd trust to step into that position.

100% 👍

[BILLYHIBS]

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Aye, I'd written Mackie off last season, I thought he was lightweight, dreadful at making decisions and nowhere near top flight level. He's been excellent for us this season and although I'm going to be gutted when Stevenson finally does hang up his boots for us, I'm now happy that we have two talented youngsters who I'd trust to step into that position.

Disagree

Always thought he was decent

Wand of a left foot

Built like a brick **** house and even more so now

Indeed I remember him playing well against Celtic and laying on a goal with a sublime ball

His only crime was instinctively handling a ball at Ibrox and being thrown under a bus by his Manager

Prior to this game he had played in three successive victories

Edit :

It was the season before last and he laid on goals against both Celtic and The Rangers

[ancient hibee]

Yes.It was a great ball Mackie played for Kamberi to thunder it past Gordon.

[AZhibee]

Thanks Jonnyboy!

[BILLYHIBS]

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Yes.It was a great ball Mackie played for Kamberi to thunder it past Gordon.

and for Dazza at Ibrox to grab a point and sicken Gerrard

[BILLYHIBS]

Thanks Jonnyboy

[Greenbeard]

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Aye, I'd written Mackie off last season, I thought he was lightweight, dreadful at making decisions and nowhere near top flight level. He's been excellent for us this season and although I'm going to be gutted when Stevenson finally does hang up his boots for us, I'm now happy that we have two talented youngsters who I'd trust to step into that position.

With Lewis available again next week and the midfield clearly not firing, is there any scope to use one of Stevenson, Mackie, Doig in there. I know Stevenson in there has been debated before but wonder if Doig is enough of a player to be developed into a left sided midfielder who can defend? Not suggesting he is thrown in there next week! Just food for thought re a possible development path.

[Eyrie]

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With Lewis available again next week and the midfield clearly not firing, is there any scope to use one of Stevenson, Mackie, Doig in there. I know Stevenson in there has been debated before but wonder if Doig is enough of a player to be developed into a left sided midfielder who can defend? Not suggesting he is thrown in there next week! Just food for thought re a possible development path.

Doig is talked about as a future CH and Stevenson is very much a defensive full back.

[brog]

Hard to argue with any of that John. I just posted on a separate thread about Willie Collum & Charlie Adam, utterly bizarre behaviour by both. Thanks as ever.

[Baldy Foghorn]

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Doig is talked about as a future CH and Stevenson is very much a defensive full back.

Doig is a CH, is he not?

[truehibernian]

Have to say the emergence of Mackie the last few games is like a new signing. Looks strong and composed and terrific energy every performance. Not knowing what goes on behind the scenes but maybe one of the more experienced pros have had a word with him and told him to focus more on his game and career. Looks far more level headed and mature.

He's come in and made the left back berth his and he'll be hard to shift.

[h1bs4life]

Not the best of games , scrappy , misplaced passes.
Seems to be a lack of urgency to get things moving quickly.
Not sure if some of that starts with Rocky who while a very good goalkeeper seems to take an age to distribute the ball.
The main thing is it's a cup game we won and names in the hat.
Thought McGregor did well , was worried seeing his name on the teamsheet afer performance against St Johnstone.
Draw after Bairns v Big Bairns game , Alloa at home please.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Pretty accurate summing up of the game.

Our passing is poor at times and by that I mean the number of times simple passes that should go in front of a player go straight to feet or slightly behind him causing him to break stride. It happens constantly with this team and is one of the reasons our play is so slow at times.

Our shooting, especially yesterday, is nothing short of abysmal ... By the time a player is 10 years old he has learned to get his head over the ball FFS.

Agree about the ref, he let Adam away with persistent fouling and maybe he missed him faking having been fouled at least twice, but I didn't and neither did Joe Newell as his rant at the ref showed when Adam went down and the replay clearly showed Joe hadn't touched him.

Not just that, but he gave Dundee a free kick for something that absolutely gets on my tits ..... when a forward knocks the ball past a couple of defenders and runs straight into one of them who clearly has no chance of getting out of the way, how the hell has the defender committed a foul .. does ma heid in !!!

Got through though, so onwards and upwards I suppose ..... I hope

[Peevemor]

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Have to say the emergence of Mackie the last few games is like a new signing. Looks strong and composed and terrific energy every performance. Not knowing what goes on behind the scenes but maybe one of the more experienced pros have had a word with him and told him to focus more on his game and career. Looks far more level headed and mature.

He's come in and made the left back berth his and he'll be hard to shift.

I posted before that maybe Doig getting a wee run of games ahead of him gave Mackie a shake.

[Unseen work]

I’ll admit to only seeing the highlights and have yet to watch the game on Hibs Tv which I’ll do tomorrow.

However on the March thread I saw Wright getting pelters for his effort at goal and how it was “disgraceful”. The only effort of his I saw was when he done really well to flick up Boyle’s pass and volley it at goal, really sharp bit of play and he done well to get any effort away.

[CmoantheHibs]

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I’ll admit to only seeing the highlights and have yet to watch the game on Hibs Tv which I’ll do tomorrow.

However on the March thread I saw Wright getting pelters for his effort at goal and how it was “disgraceful”. The only effort of his I saw was when he done really well to flick up Boyle’s pass and volley it at goal, really sharp bit of play and he done well to get any effort away.

Nah that one he did well with. There was another after that where he tried to blooter it when a bit of composure and placing it would have been better. Not too big a deal really and likely due to a lack of confidence but he isn’t too popular atm so likely why he’s taking flack.

[flash]

Wright looked lively when he came on. There is a decent player in there we just need our coaching staff to find a way to let him show his best form.