SPL 8 - Hibs Away

Defeated and Cheated

Our strong record against Hibs came to a frustrating halt at Easter Road in midweek. The game was sealed by a blatant dive by Mr G O’Connor Esquire; who converted the subsequent spot kick awarded by the incompetent referee.

The fury displayed by our club captain, Jody Morris, was a perfect cameo of my feelings towards Grade One referees. These men earn more in a year than many senior professional players earn in two or three seasons. It’s disgusting that can under-perform to such a level and survive in position. The game is all but dead and the men in black are amongst those to inflict fatal wounds on our national game.

The SPL are the main villains of the crime and it’s entirely their fault that this fixture was played mid-week at 1945. Hibs, another club with no money in the bank, decided to raise funds by playing a friendly instead of playing us. The SPL encouraged this outrageous behaviour in order to appease two Glasgow clubs who have a broadly bigoted fan-base and who allow inflammatory tunes to be heard within their dilapidated stadia. The can do as they please because the SPL are the puppets of the Old Firm.

Derek McInnes rightly stated, “We’ve sold our soul to the television” and he is spot on. When Setanta went down the swanny, we had a golden opportunity to show foresight and turn our backs on TV. We could have played the games at sensible times and ensure that Season Ticket holders were looked after. Regrettably, those in charge are mostly failed businessmen and they followed the quick-buck, knowing that many clubs faced immediate extinction without the telly money. The net result is that clubs such as Kilmarnock, Hearts and Dundee United continue to cheat their way through the league campaign.  Such clubs, fraudulently claim glory, when in fact they are bankrupt in all but name.

Such is the level of poverty in these hideous clubs, Hibernian FC ran out of adult tickets on Wednesday night. I have no reason to disbelieve them. Rumours that the club were fiddling HMRC are quite unfounded. Surely a successful club like Hibs won’t be short of cash; after all, they just opened a lovely new stand to accommodate all their loyal fans. Anyway, Hibs would surely not be stupid enough to fiddle HMRC in such a public way.

One financial irregularity that does need to be investigated is the charge of the catering kiosks in Easter Road. It might not be criminal activity but it is immoral and I’m sure Hibs wouldn’t care to be seen as other than a family club.

Their immorality was a talking point on the radio station as John “proud o’ ma bhoysh” Hughes explained that he had taken some money to keep quiet about his dismissal. Sadly, the BBC failed to address the immorality of O’Connor when he cheated to win the game. Liam McLeod actually had the stupidity to use the word “felled” in his commentary. We don’t expect much of the BBC broadcasters, but you might feel aggrieved that they don’t understand the meaning of certain words. For information, @liammcleod79, the definition of felled is, “to cause to fall by striking; cut or knock down”. What a tube, a spineless tube too. These sorts have no dignity, no morals and no place in the commentary team of a national broadcaster.

I won’t wait on an apology, but David McCracken deserves several; firstly from the SPL for allowing an incompetent referee to take charge of the game, one from the incompetent referee for being fooled by a man of O’Connor’s capacity, one from O’Connor for behaving like Fran Sandaza and one from Liam McLeod for using the word felled. Wonder how many he got?

If it sounds like I’m hung-up on this penalty incident, it’s because I am. I am utterly convinced it cost us three points. Here’s my take on the game.

Saints entered the field of play with Jody Morris restored to midfield at the expense of Willie Gibson. The team was otherwise unchanged from Sunday’s encounter with Hearts. The skipper’s inclusion meant that Midgie was wide right, Craig wide left and Mooner was the captain’s foil in the middle.

The backline was the focus of fans ire, post match, Dave Mackay getting accused of turning in a sub-standard performance by many internet experts. As someone that is far from impressed by Dave Mackay’s ability to play full-back, you might think I’d be pleased by the criticism, but I was not. The fact is, Dave Mackay played as well as he normally does, his performance did not fluctuate. He was up against a better winger than normal and Midgie was less supportive than he would be in an Old Firm game – that’s all. Anyway, with Callum Davidson injured, we need Maybury at left back meaning that we have no real cover at right back. Shame we released Irvine, really.

His lack of pace isn’t a big problem this year because he’s being more careful with his journeys up field. In addition to that, Midgie is more aware of the need to fall in behind than in previous seasons. His lack of crossing skill wasn’t a problem when he crossed for Fran, because Liam finished it anyway. In my eyes, he is a far better right back this season that when he arrived. I’d still have Irvine in the team ahead of him, because Irvine was a special talent, but Mackay is not the weak link he used to be. The finger pointing is crass, as ever.

His opposite number, Alan Maybury, had an easy night because he was up against Leigh Griffiths. It really is priceless to think that Saints fans wanted him. Funnier still is listening to fans of Derek McInnes slag of the fans that wanted Griffiths; after all McInnes doesn’t rate him, does he? Maybury had so much free time that he was able to come into the middle and help out the recovering Cracks and the god that is Steven Anderson. He put in a couple of nice tackles and if he’s dropped for the game against Killie, it will be beyond harsh.

I mentioned that Cracks is far from fit, but he still put in a fine shift. He was caught too high up the pitch when the second goal was created, leaving Anderson with two players to contend with. Other than that, he didn’t do much wrong and he must have struggled with himself not to plant a bunch of fives on the Leith Diver. He was withdrawn ten minutes from time and I assume this was to protect him and allow him to play against Killie if needed. That said, it looks a given that Davidson will be brought back into the fold to the Ayrshire trip.

Ando partnered Cracks and on paper you’d not believe such a strong backline could lose three goals. Ando has shown immense professionalism in recent times and has steadfastly refused to let McInnes affect his performances. He was terrific on Wednesday and certainly shouldn’t have been on the losing side. Their first goal was a slick passing thing of beauty until it bobbled at the feet of Sproule. No defender could have coped with the passing movement of the Hibs attackers and Ando did exactly the right thing to get on the line and try to help Enckleman. Unfortunately, Sproule’s shot between the keeper and skelped the back of the net with aplomb.

For the second, Cracks was caught high up the field and Ando was left with two men. O’Connor had momentum and jinked past Anderson who was caught in two minds. From then it was easy for the big front man. The third was a blatant piece of cheating to win a penalty. Put simply, there was nothing Anderson could do to prevent this defeat. He should play against Killie, but after that Del could well squeeze him back out of the team.

In midfield, Midgie again looked out of sorts. The recent injury and a new arrival are probably all playing a part in his blunted form. That said, he’s the only real candidate for the right midfield berth and remains worthy of his starting jersey. You always know that you’ll get maximum effort for the duration of the game with Midgie and even when he was put to full back, following Cracks withdrawal, he just worked away quietly without complaint. He has the right attitude, the right idea – he’s a credit to the club and an example to our youngsters. Cads should learn from Chris Millar’s approach and application. Talent is not enough.

Speaking of talent, Kevin Moon had an off-night. Perhaps he was slightly too far up the pitch, perhaps he simply isn’t sharp yet; whatever the case, he didn’t create enough for my liking and that’s a shame. I am in no doubt that he’s the best player we have at the club and there is not a shred of doubt that had he followed the immoral money at Tannadice, he’d be in the Scotland squad right now. If he’s looking for a club in December, I sincerely hope he chooses Aberdeen over Dundee United. There has to be a real risk that he’ll end up at Rangers and that would really hurt.

What also hurt was the kick in the coupon he received after 30 minutes. Plenty of blood and saliva flowed and the Perthshire physicians had to work hard to stem the flow. Kevin’s natural enthusiasm to return to the game, saw referee Conroy send him back to the dressing for further tidying up. It is typical of Mooner that he returned and never shirked a tackle or a high ball all game. He’s such a gem.

Partnering him in the midfield was club captain, Jody Morris. Many onlookers expected Jody’s return to be delayed until after the international break, but with great physios at Perth, we got him back two games earlier. Amazing what a difference a physio makes! He didn’t have the best of games, partly because he doesn’t work well with Mooner and partly because the game wasn’t played in midfield. Still, it was good to see him fit and available; his determination and passion are welcome attributes in any game. Of course his inclusion allowed Del to keep Jamie Adams on the naughty step.

The final of the midfield quartet was Liam Craig.  The ginge has been asked to play in a variety of positions this year and is really starting to become a utility player in the squad. He scored our first goal and it was a great finish, one that should win goal of month actually. Not only was he distracted by Sandaza’s attempt to hit the ball with his mullet, he also had a Hibs player trying to get sexual with him. It was a remarkable goal; perfectly weighted, perfectly directed, perfectly timed.

He played well enough throughout the ninety but kinda drifted away when asked to play full back, especially as Wullie Gibson was in front of him. I made some vitriolic remarks about Mr Gibson when we were first linked with him and I was wrong to do so. He is not really any worse than Cleveland Taylor or JMW but he is certainly far worse than Gavin Swankie, Fil Morais and Novikovas. If I were given Del’s job, signing Swankie would be my first job.

It is denied by most, but you do have to wonder if Del and Doc are unable to deal with the psychology of wingers. Many on the list have played well before and after Saints, but Del made them look poor during their tenure at McDiarmid. Maybe it’s because none of them were Glaswegians! I joke, of course, but Del’s reputation for favouring Glasgow players has now reached other clubs.

One Glasgow based player who Del clearly doesn’t favour is Marcus Haber. The big Canadian, who warmed up for most of the second half, clapped his hands in sheer frustration when McInnes brought on spindly David Robertson when the score was 3-1. As substitutions go, that was a belter, Del!

The game was stretched beyond belief and Sandaza is not quick by anyone’s standards. I’d have hooked him and brought on Marcus. That may surprise some folk, but credit due to Cillian Sheridan. He’s been rank rotten since his arrival, but he actually played well on Wednesday night. Not great, not enough to forgive him the dross, not enough to justify signing him, but he played well. His goal was a cracker and if continues to play like that he’ll deserve a start.

Sandaza worked away well and kept the centre halves busy. He had one terrific shot on goal but from the distance he hit it, Stack had time to curl it round the post.

All things considered, it was a poor result but a fine performance. If we play like that in the remaining games, we’ll get in about the top six. I still predict we’ll fall short because Del will have plenty mistakes in store for us. I live in hope that one day the penny will drop....