Dons head to Hampden after Easter Road shootout drama
● Agyepong the fall-guy for Hibs as his sudden-death penalty hits bar
Aberdeen scraped through to the Betfred Cup semi-finals at Hampden with a 6-5 suddendeath penalty shootout win over Hibs last night.
On-loan Manchester City winger Thomas Agyepong was the sinner for Hibs, hitting the bar with his spot kick when he had to score.
A pulsating quarter-final at Easter Road ended goalless after extra time. Martin Boyle had the ball in the net for Hibs in the second half but he was ruled offside. Stevie Mallan came close with a couple of trademark free-kicks and substitute Stevie May missed a good chance for the Dons in extra time, dragging a shot wide. Niall Mcginn also went close and, for Hibs, Ryan Porteous saw a goal-bound header deflected over by Andrew Considine.
In the shootout, Aberdeen’s Joe Lewis saved Mallan’s penalty and Hibs keeper Adam Bogdan kept Niall Mcginn’s effort out with his legs. All the other kicks were scored before Agyepong hit the bar.
A delighted Aberdeen manager Derek Mcinnes said: “I’m not one for saying penalties
are a lottery. There’s a technique required. We were practising them in training and I was confident each and every one of our players would score.”
Hibs manager Neil Lennon said: “I thought we were superb. We missed easy chances. The game shouldn’t have gone to extra time, never mind penalties.”
The semi-final draw will take place tonight after the quarterfinal between St Johnstone and Celtic.
After extra time Aberdeen win 6-5 on penalties
Aberdeen had a crossbar that is probably still shaking to thank for sealing their place in the last four of the Betfred Cup. The sight of Thomas Agyepong’s penalty crashing against the underside of the bar at the sudden death stage was dismaying for Hibs, who deserved more.
If there was a time and place to stage the Martin Boyle show then it was Easter Road last night. He had an extra half an hour to impress as well as this tie went to extra time in front of Alex Mcleish after a goalless 90 minutes.
The Scotland manager had left by the time penalties were required to separate the teams so did not see Boyle convert his spotkick to take it to sudden death. Agyepong, on loan from Manchester City, blasted Hibs’ seventh effort against the bar. He watched in horror as the ball came back out with- out crossing the line.
The Aberdeen play- ers streamed towards their fans, who were behind the goal at the end where the shoot- out took place. Their joy at being the first side through to a Hampden semi-final this season was shot through with a measure of relief. Hibs had been the bet- ter side although did waste chances in extra time. The favourable reaction of the home fans towards their players showed how much they had appre- 2 Scotland boss Alex Mcleish in the Easter Road stands last night.
ciated their efforts on a long, draining night. There might have been no goals in the 120 minutes of football but it was entertaining nevertheless.
The chance to reach Hampden was motivation enough but Boyle was given extra reason to aim to get the better of his opposite man with the Scotland manager in the directors’ box.
Actually, it was opposite men. At times the visitors doubled up on Hibs’ inform and in demand wingwith er, both Andrew Considine and on-loan Max Lowe patrolling the left side of their defence for the first hour anyway.
Lowe could not get forward as much as he and manager Derek Mcinnes would have liked, partly due to Boyle’s menace. Niall Mcginn replaced him in an attempt to kick-start a very ordinary looking Aberdeen side.
Mcginn should have scored in extra time but fired wildly over. Stevie May, another substitute, had a perhaps easier chance to put Aberdeen ahead but he dragged his shot wide.
Boyle did have the ball in the net twice but neither time counted. A handball in the run-up on the first occasion and offside on the second cut short his joy and gave Mcleish some crossing out to do in his notebook.
The Scotland manager took his place shortly before kickoff but left before the end of the 120 minutes. Mcleish cannot pick Florian Kamberi sadly. It might be worth checking for Scottish ancestry since the Swiss striker was a thorn in Aberdeen’s side in the time he was on.
He should have scored after seven minutes when put in on goalafteremersonhyndman’s through ball. He rounded Joe Lewis and had to pirouette in order to get a shot on goal. His effort bounced the wrong side of the post.
The Aberdeen front three of James Wilson, Sam Cosgrove and Gary Mackay-steven took a while to get going. Whether they ever did is a moot point.
Hibs, with Boyle to the fore, dominated the first half. At times, and this was understandable, it felt as if he was trying too hard.
And yet, amid some intense Hibs pressure Aberdeen so nearly went ahead. Wilson, perhaps for the first time in the match, provided a glimpse of his class when drifting past a series of challenges on the edge of the box. He could not evade Milligan’s lunge and referee Steven Mclean awarded a free-kick around 22 yards from goal.
Dominic Ball stepped up and watched his effort strike the crossbar before rebounding down and then out, Stephen Mallan completing the clearing duties. Ball’s hand shot up in the vain hope the ball had crossed the line.
Then Boyle took over. The player is on form and brim-