YESTERDAY, a very tasty match against Rangers was in prospect with third spot very much back on the cards and with Motherwell and Dundee United both failing to pick up any points the day before, this was a chance to gain a bit of ground on the other two sides.
That and also try and create a wee gap between ourselves and Aberdeen who, all of a sudden, find themselves back in the fray with back-to-back wins.
We knew it was going to be tough – this is Rangers after all – but to have lost both Boozy and Zem
amma from our midfield and also Chris Hogg from the back, we needed those brought in the side to rise to the occasion. Mixu took a chance on youth and I was pleased to see Kevin McCann back in his full back slot and thought he did all that was required, and there was much on show yesterday to remind us of why he was such an important player for Hibs not all that long ago.
Given that the side had a make shift feel to it, I thought we did really well and it could have been so much better had it not been for a, quite frankly, hideous error from the assistant referee, Lawrence Kerrigan, who judged Dean Shiels offside when homing in on goal. Given how Deano has been rattling them in from just such a position of late, a goal would have been inevitable, but, yet again, a very important decision was incorrectly called by one of our games officials.
Overall, I thought there were some really good performances from Hibs, including man of the match Dean Shiels. For me, Filipe Morais gave a terrific shift and was unlucky not to get a goal with a raker which was just saved by the Rangers keeper. Martin Canning, I think, had his best game in a Hibs shirt and once again Andy McNeil just grows in confidence – if not height!
I suppose you might always look to take at least a point from either of the Old Firm and if I was being neutral and unbiased, I would have thought this was a pretty good match to watch despite it ending up nil-nil.
But I'm not neutral or unbiased, so I have to say had it not been for one or two wayward passes in the final third and one brutal offside decision, Hibs may well have been sitting pretty in third place right now.
No sooner had I got home from Easter Road, I was suited and booted again and back down to the hallowed ground for this year's Hibs Players Player of the Year Awards. Now in its third year, it's always a good night and a chance to look back on some great moments in the season.
Much was discussed, but many questions were left unanswered. Questions like exactly how many times has Filipe Morais dyed his hair this season? Precisely what did Colin Nish call Stuart Dougal at Pittodrie? And is John Rankin really Yogi's love child?
We started by reflecting on that amazing result at Tynecastle at the start of the season. It wasn't so much that we won that game which was amazing, more that Brian Kerr actually scored a goal! We also relived those terrific victories at Easter Road and Ibrox respectively when we got all three points from both sides of the Old Firm.
The Ibrox victory was named "Most Memorable Match of the Season" and David Murphy the player who contributed most. He is of course down in Birmingham these days, but sent a video message in which he promised to be back at Easter Road for the final game of the season against Motherwell to cheer the lads on. Nice one, David.
As you might imagine, Steven Fletcher featured and won best forward and young player awards and, despite not being the most talkative of individuals, we did discover that he has real concerns about his ever-balding napper – thanks to a Dean Shiels testimony!
Chris Hogg, quite rightly, walked away with "Defender of the Season" and "Player of the Season" and was suitably chuffed. Perhaps less so when it was discovered that Boozy's pet name for him is "Chrissy". Perhaps, the less said about that the better.
All in all a great night and, yet there's still plenty to come before this season's out! Glory, Glory!
All the best to hero ReillyMISSING from Easter Road yesterday afternoon and evening was Lawrie Reilly.
He suffered a small stroke recently, but is making good progress and, all going well, we should see him out of hospital by Wednesday. We all wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully he'll be back in his usual seat at Easter Road for the Motherwell game a fortnight on Thursday.
Get well soon, Lawrie.
The full article contains 820 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
