DONS OWE IT TO SAVIOUR LEWIS
Keeper is spot on for Aberdeen as Hibs pay the penalty
FOR the fifth successive season, Aberdeen will feature in a major showpiece fixture at Hampden. And they owe it almost entirely to Joe Lewis.
Outstanding over 120 minutes of incessant pressure from the home side at Easter Road, Lewis pulled off more heroics in a penalty shoot-out that went into the seventh round — and did just enough to see the Dons through to the Betfred Cup semi-finals.
He saved Stevie Mallan’s first effort, got a hand on another — and then stood tall as on-loan Manchester City winger Thomas Agyepong hit the crossbar with the 14th penalty, handing Aberdeen a 6-5 win.
Hibs will always believe that they should have wrapped this game up long before the need for an overtime shift. If chances created counted, they’d have been out of sight long before the regulation 90 minutes were up.
But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. They couldn’t hit the target. Couldn’t find a way past Lewis. And paid the price.
There was a widespread assumption that this tie, perhaps most out of all the quarter-finals, would produce thrills.
And, certainly, few could complain about a first half that boasted everything but goals.
Hibs had the ball in the net, only to see Martin Boyle’s effort rightly chalked off for handball.
Aberdeen thought they’d scored when a screamer of a Max Lowe free-kick crashed down off the underside of Adam Bogdan’s crossbar — only to land on the ‘wrong’ side of the goalline.
The Dons were strong, effective and dangerous on the break. Hibs looked to cut their way through the red ranks using the speed of the ball, often with good effect. It wouldn’t have felt right if the opener in this game had come from a howler. Yet, after two minutes, Paul Hanlon very nearly turned an Andrew Considine effort into his own net.
Settling themselves after the early scare, Hibs began to break the lines in midfield, with Mallan always to the fore.
His break after seven minutes probably should have ended in a goal, Emerson Hyndman’s through ball finding Florian Kamberi racing in on the keeper. The Swiss striker managed to turn away from Lewis, spun on the ball — but then found only the side netting. With James Wilson looking a player of pedigree, Aberdeen carried more than enough threat of their own. Never more so than with the dead ball, as Lowe’s freekick — awarded for a foul by Mark Milligan on Wilson — demonstrated. But Hibs looked the more complete side, putting together one and two-touch passing moves that created chances to shoot on goal. Hyndman stung the hands of Lewis before Boyle ran on to a glorious Mallan ball and beat the Dons keeper, but the ‘goal’ was called back for his use of an arm in controlling before shooting. And Boyle had another couple of sightings before half-time, pushing a shot wide with his left foot after being put in one-on-one by Hyndman, then seeing an effort deflected behind. With Scotland boss Alex McLeish watching on from the main stand, the former Dundee winger picked a good night to demonstrate his knack for consistently finding himself in the danger zone with ball at feet. If anything, the second half was even more entertaining than the first. Boyle was still running at defenders, Kamberi actually put Dom Ball on his backside with one piece of sumptuous skill — and yet Aberdeen were more urgent on the break. Wilson’s quality shone through, a super ball putting in Gary Mackay-Steven for a fizzing shot held at the second attempt.
After that early effort, though, it was a case of Hibs simply piling up chance after chance.
On the hour mark, Kamberi just let a pass run through his legs, completely bamboozled Mikey Devlin, cut into the box — and shot over the bar.
Lewis pulled off a point-blank save from Hanlon at the back post, the centre-half connecting with a Mallan free-kick.
Young Oli Shaw dragged a right-footed effort wide when he might, on reflection, have squared for his strike partner.
In the main stand, grown men were tearing at their hair in frustration. Children wept. Strong women fainted. All in green and white were thinking the same thing. How. Many. Times?
Neil Lennon shook things up heading into extra time, removing Hanlon and Hyndman for Marvin Bartley and Agyepong.
The latter took just a couple of minutes to threaten from a position behind the front two, driving into the box at pace, although his left-footed shot was easily held.
For the Dons, Niall McGinn blazed an opportunity into the second tier of the Famous Five Stand.
Aberdeen substitute Stevie May, who replaced Sam Cosgrove, was allowed to chase a bouncing ball just into the second period of extra time, Bogdan having to look sharp to make the stop.
To penalties, then. The least bad way to settle a tie. Not that you’ll find anyone from the Granite City complaining, as they make their way to the national stadium — again — next month.