HIBS’ HUNGER GAME
Holders have Hampden on horizon after deflating Ayr
‘BRING on the Rangers’, they chanted in the East Stand in the lead-up to the final whistle.
The Hibs fans know what they want, all right. Whether Hampden Park and the SFA are quite as enthusiastic is something else entirely. They are still glueing the place back together after the overwhelming ‘exuberance’ of last season’s Scottish Cup final.
Still, at least the presence of Neil Lennon on the green-and-white side of things this time around should make sure it all goes off without a hitch should today’s semi-final draw deliver the goods.
Lennon spoke of his pride when the dust had settled last night about taking a different club to the national stadium after all his successes there as a player and manager with Celtic. Rightly so.
Despite Hibs’ inconsistencies in terms of performance, they remain six points clear in the Championship and on track to complete a surreal defence of this old trophy, too.
‘Here we go, Two in a Row’ boomed around the ground as the players came off the park. Those supporters waited 114 years to get their hands on this most elusive silverware and, clearly, do not want to give anyone else a shot. It seems the players, for all the talk of promotion being the priority, share their hunger.
They were unrecognisable in this match from the side which surrendered so pitifully at St Mirren in midweek. Sharp, focused and two goals up in 12 minutes thanks to a pearler from John McGinn and a disputed Jason Cummings penalty, they did a thorough, professional job on an Ayr United side which has emerged from two visits to Leith on league business with a win and a draw this term.
Craig McGuffie did make it interesting for a while with a magnificent strike just after the half hour, but the red card shown to Scott McKenna in the first half for a late tackle on McGinn pretty much signalled the end of Ayr as an attacking presence and paved the way for substitute James Keatings to complete the scoring.
There was talk within the Ayr camp post-match of possibly being given a penalty just before the hour for a hand ball by Efe Ambrose but the claims seemed rather weak.
The truth is that it could easily have been more comfortable for the home side. As their league form has faltered, their last four games in the Championship delivering just three points, they have stayed strong in the Cup and they were at it right from the start here, taking the lead on seven minutes.
McGinn had been at the heart of causing the initial trouble, moving on to a forward ball from Andrew Shinnie on the left, holding off Brian Gilmour and sending a teasing cross into the centre.
McKenna cleared, but the ball made its way back to McGinn just outside the area thanks to Marvin Bartley and, this time, he took care of business himself, bending a splendid effort into the corner with his right foot.
Before long, Hibs were 2-0 up in controversial circumstances. Martin Boyle went down under a challenge from Daryll Meggatt as he moved into a dangerous position on the right. Meggatt complained bitterly that the tackle had been committed outside the area, but referee Nick Walsh pointed to the spot.
Cummings stepped up to the mark and benefited from Greg Fleming diving early to his right, the striker’s effort rolling straight down the middle and into the back of the net.
Shinnie could have killed the contest on 17 minutes when seeing a point-blank effort parried by Fleming, with McGuffie then restoring hope to the visitors when all seemed lost.
An initial foray upfield had been dealt with by Jordon Forster, but the ball made its way back to McGuffie a good 30 yards out and he released a truly wondrous effort which reduced Ofir Marciano to the role of spectator as it soared into his top right-hand corner.
Who knows what could have happened had McKenna not suffered a rush of blood to the head before the break? As it was, he left his side with just too big a mountain to climb when reacting much more slowly than McGinn to a loose ball 20 yards from goal and catching the midfielder late and high.
Hibs might have been expected to turn their numerical advantage into a flood of goals, but Meggatt was at the centre of a stubborn rearguard, broken only late on when Keatings, just on the park for Cummings, rose to meet a David Gray cross and power a solid header in off the underside of the crossbar.
Back to Hampden it is for the Hibees, then. Well, the ones who have not been lifted since the last big day out there, that is.