INJURY-HIT HIBS END HORROR RUN
THE end of a torturous seven-game run without a win would normally be met with great celebration. Not yesterday, though. Not given the feel of this long, bleak afternoon.
When the whistle finally blew, at 5.05pm and after all manner of injuries and spells of treatment, not to mention Oli Shaw’s 65th-minute winner, Hibs manager Neil Lennon, subdued throughout and soaked to the skin, barely cracked a light.
He shook the hand of coach Grant Murray, that of fourth official Steven McLean and approached the home dugout. Once again, he avoided the media afterwards. His only real expression of emotion was to approach the 1,017 away fans, who had vocalised their support for him all day, and applaud before raising both fists into the air.
There is no question there was a distinct sense of relief at bringing to a halt the club’s worst run since the relegation season of 2013-14, but, even as the team filed out on to the bus to head off, the injury suffered by winger Martin Boyle hung over them in the same ominous fashion as the slate grey skies above.
In first-half stoppage-time, Boyle tried to race on to a long ball and collided with home goalkeeper Gary Woods in the Accies penalty area.
It was immediately clear that something serious had happened. He spent over five minutes flat on the ground receiving treatment — a delay that forced Lennon to go on to the field to check his welfare — and left motionless on a stretcher to be transported to hospital.
Word is that he was up and about last night, but suffering from concussion. As it was, his removal changed a strange match dominated and shaped by fitness concerns and players unfit for duty.
To start, both sides had to change their keepers before kick-off due to injuries suffered in the warm-up.
Accies’ recent signing Jan Mucha was replaced by Gary Woods, while Adam Bogdan had to make way for Ofir Marciano as a result of groin trouble. Woods then failed to reappear for the second period due to a knee injury picked up when running into Boyle, allowing Jacob Marsden to make his debut.
For Hibs, it was the introduction of fit-again Emerson Hyndman for Boyle that really changed things. He made things happen from the moment he got on the park. When Daryl Horgan replaced Miquel Nelom, allowing Lewis Stevenson to return to left-back, Hibs got a solid grip on the game for the first time — and snatched the crucial goal shortly afterwards with the little Irishman putting over a great ball from the left that Shaw converted.
‘Martin has gone to the hospital with concussion, so we will know more afterwards,’ said Lennon’s No2 Garry Parker. ‘I didn’t really see it because I was turned around talking but he has taken a bang and he has got concussion, so it is quite serious, I think.
‘A win is so important, just to give you confidence going forward. It is a big weight off our minds.
‘I think the first half we did okay, but the second half, Emerson changed it for us. He is a player who comes on, wants the ball and when he is on the ball, moving it, passing it, it rubs off.
‘When you’re not getting results, it’s a case of sleepless nights. I’ve been having them, I tell you.’
It has clearly been a difficult time around the Hibs camp of late.
Parker talked about players playing for their jobs pre-match and was scathing about a number of them — particularly Swiss striker Florian Kamberi — after the midweek draw with St Mirren at Easter Road. He remains unrepentant, though. ‘It needed to be said,’ claimed Parker. ‘It doesn’t bother me one bit. I’ll tell ’em.
‘You could see a difference in Flo today. He put himself about, had a few shots and their keeper has had a great save from him.’
Woods opened brightly in smothering the ball at the feet of Shaw and then made a good low save at the near post on 23 minutes from an inventive Stevie Mallan free-kick from wide on the left.
In truth, Hibs lacked fluency and were unable to put sustained pressure on his goal and looked more likely to be the team to concede in the closing stages of the opening period.
Just before the half hour, Dougie Imrie put the ball into the area and Rakish Bingham produced a crisp shot that Marciano palmed out towards Mickel Miller. Miller put in a shot from the rebound that the Israeli saved, but linesman Alastair Mather had already raised his flag for offside.
James Keatings was next to find himself presented with a golden opportunity and ought to have done better. Miller cut the ball back from the right to the attacker and he slid a first-time effort past the far post from no more than eight yards out.
With Woods stuck in the dressing room at half-time with a swollen knee and Boyle in the back of an ambulance, attention turned to Marsden in the home goal and what an impression the 22-year-old made.
Within six minutes, he’d produced a good save after Kamberi had moved on to a square pass from Hyndman. Hyndman was then denied by an excellent close-range stop from the keeper after skipping clear of Ziggy Gordon inside the area.
The tide had evidently turned, though, and he could do nothing to prevent Shaw from breaking the deadlock. Horgan, not long on the park, fired in a deep, searching cross from wide left. It took a bounce and skidded across to the far side of the penalty area, where Shaw stretched out his boot to send the ball back across Marsden and into the net.