POWER PACKED
Lennon’s Hibs lose spark as Killie surge to fine win despite electrical failures
THIS was shaping up to be a long afternoon for Neil Lennon well before the first of two power cuts hit Rugby Park.
A goal down after seven minutes and comprehensively outplayed to trail by two at half-time, this was an abject continuation of the run of form that has seen the Leith side fail to win in six matches. The misery was dragged out as the lights twice failed, causing a combined delay of 26 minutes.
Faulty electrics notwithstanding, it would be wrong to deny Kilmarnock the credit for a handsome win that took the everimpressive Steve Clarke’s side to second place in the Premiership.
This was a controlled and dominant performance from the home team, with Eamonn Brophy’s first-half double setting up victory.
Hibs now languish in eighth, a long way from the European spots they contested last season. Just as the stadium electrics struggled on this cold winter day, Lennon’s team seems to have been drained of the energy and verve that has made them such an entertaining watch for the bulk of 2018.
Lennon took a pass on his post-match media duties, instead sending up assistant Garry Parker to speak of a performance he described as ‘terrible’.
‘The biggest disappointment of the day was the lights not going back out again,’ said Parker. ‘It was disappointing from start to finish. Not good enough.’
In a bid to arrest the slide, Lennon went against his natural instincts and packed his team with defenders. Efe Ambrose and Mark Milligan were posted as screeners in front of the back three, with Steven Whittaker and Miquel Nelom on either side as wing-backs.
Still Killie were able to find an astonishing amount of space to open the scoring. Greg Stewart was not necessarily favourite as he latched onto a hooked ball forward from Jordan Jones, but he managed to ease his way past Paul Hanlon at the byline.
In theory, Darren McGregor and Ryan Porteous should have been available to pick up Stewart’s strike partner Brophy, but he had time to calmly accept Stewart’s cut-back and execute the finish beyond Adam Bogdan from 12 yards.
The ease with which Killie continued to toy with their guests made a mockery of their record of one win in 13 attempts in this fixture.
Stewart was in the mood, toying with Milligan on one run which saw the Australian captain turned inside and out, and both he and Rory McKenzie came close before the lead doubled.
The goal’s origin stemmed from the hunger of Alan Power as he snapped into a challenge with Whittaker. Greg Taylor then combined with Jones, who skipped into the box and tumbled as McGregor stretched out a leg. McGregor offered no protest and Brophy went straight down the middle with the kick.
It was no surprise to see a couple of Hibs changes at the break. Whittaker and McGregor were left inside to make way for Oli Shaw and Daryl Horgan.
‘We went with a mindset not to get beaten, be defensive and they scored straight away, so that goes out the window,’ added Parker.
‘We could have taken off anybody at half-time and they couldn’t have complained.
‘We started the second half a bit better but the lights going out was no excuse. We could have been out there all day and not scored a goal.’
The first power cut came after 52 minutes and left Craig Thomson no choice but to take both sets of players back inside for a heat.
With Hibs now operating with a back four and Horgan and Boyle as wingers, Clarke’s response was to replace his goalscorer and throw on Aaron Tshibola as an extra midfielder.
Hibs had half an hour of regulation time to find a way through. Take three began after the second outage on 67 minutes but all semblance of rhythm had gone.
Horgan drove forward and clattered a shot over, while at the other end Scott Boyd planted a flat header wide.
The more Hibs pushed, the easier it was for Killie to counter. Power flashed a drive over and then Stewart had a horrible miss at the back post after O’Donnell’s rightwing run fed Tshibola.
Power, whose hard running made him a stand-out in the Killie midfield, perhaps should have scored but he shot wide as he latched on to Stewart’s reverse pass.
Instead, Stewart showed how it was done, accepting Burke’s through ball to clip a finish over Bogdan.
‘It was nice to get the third goal but we should have had it earlier,’ said Clarke afterwards.
‘If we had done it properly, we could have got four or five goals today but, listen, we’re not going to grumble — 3-0 is a decent result against a good Hibs team.
‘I thought we were terrific from start to finish. Hopefully the performance will get more headlines than the lights.’