SUPER SHOW IN LEITH
Eight goals, two comebacks and a touchline confrontation make Easter Road top spot for drama
AT This particular time of year in Edinburgh, there are no shortage of productions to choose from. For fans of compelling drama, however, there was simply no better place to be than Easter Road on saturday.
When the curtain had finally come down, Paul heckingbottom’s hibernian were in the quarter-finals of the Betfred Cup — but only just after a contest featuring eight goals, two unlikely comebacks from Morton and one hugely controversial turning point.
That game-changing incident before Florian Kamberi’s crucial fourth goal for the hosts in extra-time led to a red card for visiting manager David hopkin, with the Cappielow club later vowing to report fourth official Kevin Graham to the scottish FA amid accusations of ‘man-handling’ and verbally abusing their boss.
Afterwards, Kamberi admitted he had no idea of the chaos that lay in store after hibs stormed into a straightforward first-half lead.
‘it was a harder afternoon than we expected after going 2-0 up,’ he said after his side’s 5-3 victory.
‘We started well but then we got a little bit sloppy and we made some mistakes. Of course, we have respect for our opponent but we should have finished them off in 90 minutes.
‘We made it a bit more difficult than it should have been. But i’m just delighted we won and got into the next round. The end!’
hibs had taken an early lead when on-loan Rangers attacker Glenn Middleton marked his debut by picking out scott Allan in the box. The midfielder supplied the perfect touch to divert the ball low past on-loan Aberdeen keeper Danny Rogers.
Goal No 2 followed when Daryl horgan hit the byeline and picked out Josh Vela lurking around the Morton penalty spot.
The midfielder stylishly steered the ball high into the net and it looked like game over.
however, having been hit for six by Rangers at ibrox the previous weekend, hibs looked brittle after Nicky Cadden fed Bob Mchugh, fresh from scoring his first career hat-trick last weekend, to pull a goal back six minutes before the interval.
Then, on the stroke of half-time, Aidan Nesbitt sent over a delicious delivery into the box from the left flank. With Cadden lurking with intent at the back post, full-back Lewis stevenson had to get a touch on the ball but the long-serving hibs defender could not stop himself bundling it over the line for an own goal.
so comfortable for much of the opening 45 minutes, hibs were jeered off the pitch at the interval.
Yet heckingbottom’s side were back ahead within ten minutes of the restart courtesy of a Rogers error. As Kamberi ran on to a ball from Middleton, the Morton keeper ran out of his box but did not get there in time.
The swiss striker knocked the ball past the stranded Rogers then rolled it into the net from just outside the right edge of the box.
That should have been that but, deep into stoppage time, Morton were level again when substitute Reghan Tumilty’s shot was deflected into his own net by steven Whittaker. Cue even louder jeers from the hibs fans with extra-time now on the cards.
By now, Morton looked the more likely side to win. But the wind was taken from the Championship side’s sails when referee Alan Muir missed a foul on visiting substitute Cameron salkeld by Vela.
Allan rubbed salt into open wounds by playing a long ball for Kamberi who finished clinically.
A furious hopkin was red-carded for his protests, with club chief executive David MacKinnon visiting the media room at full-time to make allegations of ‘man-handling’ and ‘foul and abusive language’ by fourth official Graham.
A fifth goal at the death by Christian Doidge added a bit of gloss to the final scoreline in what had been an extremely close encounter for the Easter Road side, who now travel to Kilmarnock in the quarter-finals.
Linked with a move to Basle in his homeland, Kamberi did not exactly shut down talk over his future afterwards. But he claimed he is content at hibs.
‘i deal with things like this well, just like i did the last time there was speculation about me,’ he said.
‘Every player has his ambitions, that’s for sure, but i’m happy playing here and scoring goals. (But) you never know what is going to happen in the future.
‘it (speculation) is like a motivation. it shows i am doing something right. i am working hard and it is paying off. But it doesn’t mean that i can stop now (clubs) are looking at me. it just pushes me on even more.
‘it’s a good sign when you hear something like this. it means you are doing your job right but it’s important to keep your feet on the ground and keep working hard.
‘It (my future) is not in my hands. My job is to do my work on the pitch for Hibs and score goals to help the team. For anything else I have my agents who deal with stuff outwith the football.
‘I never put my mind anywhere else when I am on the pitch. I’m very comfortable with that.
‘I was happy with my performance today. I could have scored even more, so I can’t be 100-per-cent happy. But I’m happy I helped the team into the next round with my two goals.’