BEATEN TO THE PUNCH
Killie land a knock-out blow as Hibs continue bad habit of losing goals at the death
AGLASS jaw is a glass jaw. You can change management, switch up the cornermen, put together any number of new combinations. Ultimately, you have to be able to take a punch without crumpling to the canvas.
Unfortunately for watching double world champion Josh Taylor, only one of these teams proved durable enough to suffer the odd knockdown and get right back up again.
It certainly wasn’t his beloved Hibernian, whose reputation as weak-chinned palookas has survived even the early bounce created by the arrival of Jack Ross as head coach.
Against a Kilmarnock side who had been bludgeoned all over the park for much of the afternoon, a 2-0 lead was squandered. Another late sickener conceded.
If they keep losing pointsapping goals in the closing moments of games, as they had already done in clashes with Aberdeen, Ross County, St Johnstone and — most painfully — Hearts even before this latest collapse, they will not go the distance.
But Killie? Any team who can hang on and scrap for every point will always have a slugger’s chance. Angelo Alessio’s men stand three points clear of Hibs because of their spirit and gumption.
Dario del Fabro, who supplied the sweet finish for the stoppagetime equaliser, put it rather simply.
‘We have a humble team and we fight in every game,’ said the Italian central defender. ‘But, in the first half, we were out of our minds. We were a bit scared by the aggression of Hibs.
‘In the second half, our manager tried to inspire us and we did our best.
‘He is an Italian manager, so he is very passionate. He just got us to focus and had confidence we could get a great result.
‘We showed in the last couple of games we have a good mentality. Against Hamilton, we came back from 2-0 to draw 2-2. That shows our spirit. We are never dead. We keep fighting in every situation, for every ball.
‘If we keep doing this, we have a chance to finish the season in a good way. If we lose that, it becomes tough.
‘When I was young, it was a dream for me to come to the UK, because the football in England and Scotland is so passionate.
‘In Italy, it is a bit different. The football is slow, a lot of tactics. Here, every ball is a fight. I enjoy this because you can’t predict the final result.
‘In Italy, if you are going to play Juventus, you know you are losing.
‘Here, you can beat Celtic or lose to the team bottom of the league. Or come back from two goals down to get a draw!’
Killie didn’t half put themselves in a hole at Easter Road, falling behind after just 18 minutes when keeper Laurentiu Branescu failed to challenge for a looping Scott Allan ball into the box — allowing Christian Doidge to score with the oddest of headers.
Allan, whose withdrawal after 65 minutes coincided with his team going weak at the knees, contributed even more to the second goal just after halftime, demonstrating brilliant improvisational skills to keep the ball moving through a series of give-and-go moves before Jason Naismith beat Branescu with a screamer at his near post.
But every Hibs fan suffered a sharp intake of breath when Alex Bruce slammed home Killie’s first after a Del Fabro header had been blocked on the line.
They groaned as chance after chance to play down the clock was wasted. And weren’t in the least bit surprised by Del Fabro’s last-gasp intervention.
The on-loan Juventus player, who spent last season at Serie B side Cremonese, was thrilled to get his first goal in the Scottish game.
Asked about his record in front of goal, he pointed to one strike last season, saying: ‘I scored against Venezia for a 1-1 draw and we saved our season, our position in the league.
‘Also, when I was young, I scored for the national team in the European Championships. So I’m not prolific when it comes to scoring goals but, when I do, they are important.’
Hibs have to believe that they won’t always suffer like this. When Ross gets more time with his players, he will surely drill them in the dark arts of seeing out a leading position.
Up next is a trip to Dingwall on Wednesday night, then they face a run of fixtures that reads: Aberdeen (H), Celtic (A), Rangers (H), Hearts (A).
If it’s any barometer of their collective strength, they have failed to kept a clean sheet in the Premiership since the opening day of the season.
Keeper Chris Maxwell, trying to sound a note of defiance over his team’s inability to keep the opposition from scoring, said: ‘I’m racking my brains, everyone is doing the same. It will come.
‘I sat here nine games ago and told you all we would be all right. And we’ve proved we’ll be all right — we’re nine league games unbeaten. I believe that the clean sheets will come.’
Smack dab in the middle of that nine-game run, of course, Paul Heckingbottom was sacked. An inconvenient truth amid a sea of positive stats.
One of the main problems that led to his dismissal was precisely this inability to get games won.
Maxwell admitted: ‘As a collective group, this isn’t good enough. We should see it out.
‘You can sit here and analyse things, pick the bones out of it, come to any conclusion you like. We should have won, it is as simple as that.’
The keeper was understandably tetchy after losing that late goal. As for whether he could have come out to claim the free-kick that led to the equaliser, well, watch it back for yourself.
It’s clear that, for whatever reason, the Hibs back four isn’t entirely comfortable. And, the closer that blessed final whistle gets, the more uneasy they grow.
They need to learn how to cover up, take the body blows without suffering serious damage. Any chance Josh Taylor could to deliver a few pointers to Ross and his side?
HIBERNIAN (4-1-2-1-2): Maxwell 5; Naismith 7, Porteous 5, Hanlon 6, Stevenson 5; Hallberg 6; Slivka 7, Newell 6 (Horgan 77); Allan 7 (Mallan 65); Doidge 6, Kamberi 5 (Boyle 70). Subs not used: Marciano, James, Jackson, Shaw.
Booked: Hallberg.
KILMARNOCK (4-2-3-1): Branescu 4; O’Donnell 6, Del Fabro 7, Bruce 7, Hamalainen 6; Power 5, Dicker 6; Burke 5, El Makrini 5 (Thomas 78), McKenzie 6 (Millar 60); Sow 5 (Jackson 60). Subs not used: Koprivec, Hendrie, Johnson, Wilson. Booked: Power. Man of the match: Scott Allan. Referee: Kevin Clancy. Attendance: 15,208.