HIbs stay in the running for European place with battling display against Rangers

Hibs 0 - 0 Rangers
PROBABLY a less than satisfactory outcome for both teams, but one which leaves Hibs and Rangers hanging in there as they pursue their respective targets.

The Ibrox club will take comfort from the fact that while they narrowed the advantage arch-rivals Celtic enjoy from eight points to seven as the Old Firm chase the SPL title once again, they have three outstanding games to play.

And from Hibs' perspective the point gained from this match pulls them level with Dundee United and a point behind Motherwell, their UEFA Cup rivals.

However, the margin of error for both Hibs and Rangers has reduced somewhat following this Easter Road stalemate, Mixu Paatelainen's players having just two more games to achieve their goal while the Ibrox club face a punishing schedule over the coming weeks as they seek to add three more pieces of silverware to the CIS Insurance Cup which already nestles within their trophy room.

"Two Cup finals," was how Filipe Morais described the challenge facing him and his Hibs team-mates, a trip to Celtic Park followed by a visit from Motherwell on the final day of an already prolonged season the challenge now to be overcome.

While conceding a draw was probably a fair result, the Portuguese Under-21 internationalist couldn't help but reflect it was an opportunity lost rather than a point gained, sensing that Rangers' mid-week heroics in defeating Fiorentina to reach the final of the UEFA Cup, to be played in just nine days in Manchester, had left Walter Smith's players drained and, as he put it, "there for the taking."

His boss Paatelainen thought otherwise, repeating his pre-match comments that the opposition players would have been re-energised by the feat they had achieved although, apart from a brief spell at the start of the second half when they threw everything at Hibs, Rangers did look more than a touch leg weary, Smith having elected to start this match with all but one of those who were on from the beginning in Florence.

Like his players, however, Paatelainen was left to reflect on what might have been had assistant referee Lawrence Kerrigan not been so hasty in raising his flag to signal Dean Shiels offside after a quick exchange of passes between Steven Fletcher and Morais left the Northern Ireland internationalist, a scorer in each of Hibs' previous two matches as he took his tally for the season to ten, with only Rangers goalkeeper Neil Alexander to beat.

Whether a goal – and Hibs wouldn't have wanted anyone other than Shiels in such a situation – inside the opening four minutes proved to be decisive can, of course, only be a matter of conjecture, but it would certainly have posed Rangers a question or two.

As it was, Hibs didn't sting the palms of Alexander until the tenacity of John Rankin in winning the ball from former Easter Road star Kevin Thomson, set up Morais, who arguably enjoyed his most productive match in a green and white shirt, for a shot which was pushed over the bar by a goalkeeper who was taking no chances.

All of 62 minutes had passed until that incident, although it had been Rangers who had come closest to scoring, Andy McNeil pulling off a superb stop, diving low to his left to claw away a net-bound header from Carlos Cuellar before the Hibs goalkeeper, enjoying an inspired run of form at the moment, beat away a Barry Ferguson effort after the Ibrox skipper had enjoyed a fortunate break of the ball to find himself with only the Scotland Under-21 star to beat.

If Hibs didn't quite manage to create as many openings as they would have liked, Paatelainen would, no doubt, have been far happier with the standard of passing from his players, far superior to that on display at Pittodrie eight days earlier.

Indeed, had that been the case Hibs could easily have been leaving Aberdeen with three vital points rather than, as they did, empty-handed.

A trip to Celtic Park on Sunday to face a Hoops side who have had their own title challenge reinvigorated over the past couple of weeks, is, of course, another daunting prospect for Paatelainen's players but they will, at least, travel along the M8 with the squad strengthened by the availability of Colin Nish, Guillaume Beuzelin and Thierry Gathuessi after suspension although their replacements, Kevin McCann, Ross Chisholm and Ross Campbell did their chances of retaining their places no harm at all.

On paper this looked a rather fragile Hibs side, no disrespect at all intended to the youngsters, who, again, proved that what they might be lacking in experience they certainly enjoy in potential.

McCann, in for the first time after a 13-match absence, looked calm and assured, recovering from his only mistake to put in a superb goal-saving challenge on Nacho Novo, Chisholm a terrier in midfield even if one or two of his passes went astray and Campbell, slight of frame against David Weir and Cuellar, but an every willing worker.

But, if they couldn't quite force that win, they certainly gave a good account of themselves, leading Paatelainen to say: "It was a very even game, both teams created chances and although there were no goals scored, I thought it was pretty entertaining.

"We wanted to win the game, no doubt, playing in front of a fantastic home support. The boys put in a lot of effort and with a bit of luck we might have scored that winning goal."

Paatelainen was even in a forgiving mood towards the officials over that early offside decision saying: "It wasn't offside but these things happen, it's really difficult for referees and linesmen. Unfortunately it went against us on this occasion."

If, like Paatelainen, he wasn't entirely overjoyed at the final outcome, Morais insisted, as did his manager, that Hibs have as good a chance as any of the others – and now Aberdeen can't be discounted following their 2-1 win over Dundee United – of taking third place and, with it, a spot in next season's UEFA Cup.

He said: "We have two cup finals, but we have the ability in the dressing room.

"I felt Rangers were a bit tired and we could have gone on to win this one. Personally I felt we could have got the three points, but at least we have got one so we are still in it."

Paatelainen concurred, adding: "I feel we have a good chance of finishing third. We have two games left and if we win both of them we might get third. It depends on other results but we can only concentrate on our own games and hope to win next week."