No revenge for Hibs this time

Rangers 2 - 1 Hibs
IF THERE was any solace at all to be taken from Hibs Scottish Cup exit at Ibrox a fortnight ago it was the acknowledgement Mixu Paatelainen's players had fallen far below the standards they had set themselves in the weeks prior to that encounter.

A quick-fire return to the south of Glasgow offered not only the opportunity to rectify that shortcoming but for the Easter Road outfit to further strengthen their European credentials against a team, so popular opinion had it, running on empty as they faced their 50th match of a punishing season.

All fine in theory but, when the teams got down to the nitty gritty, it was Rangers who showed just why, with one trophy safely tucked away, they are still fighting on three other fronts. Walter Smith's side gave their visitors a lesson in how to grind out a win even when you aren't at the top of your game.

Put simply, Hibs were second best all afternoon, Dean Shiels' strike was too little too late to bring anything other than a nervous final few minutes before the home fans could breath a sigh of relief and begin to enjoy the six-point gap the goals from Jean-Claude Darcheville and Nacho Novo had opened up over their arch-rivals.

In the end it may, just like the Cup tie, have been another single goal defeat, but boss Paatelainen wasn't going to be fooled by the narrow margin. He said: "We must play much better than that.

"People talk about Rangers players being tired but we saw their midfielders beat us to every ball. They really wanted to be first to it, they were sharp, hungry to get on the ball, to make it happen. They wanted to make sure their passes connected and that's what won them the game."

When it was pointed out his side had enjoyed their fair share of the ball, Paatelainen countered: "Possession is nothing if you just keep the ball for the sake of it. You have to try to hurt your opponents by making the right passes and the right moves and that did not happen."

Paatelainen's opinion was emphasised by the fact Hibs didn't trouble Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor until the 72nd minute and even then substitute Shiels' weak trundler was easily gathered by the hero of both the Glasgow club's CIS Insurance Cup triumph and their UEFA Cup win over Werder Bremen.

In a match of significance to both sides in terms of their relative aspirations for the season, Hibs, aware Dundee United had leapfrogged them in the SPL table by virtue of their win over the third of the Euro hopefuls, Motherwell, fell well short of what Paatelainen expected of them. Few appeared willing to put their foot on the ball, opting for first time passes which rarely found their intended target – particularly on those occasions, and there were a few, when the ball was played "blind," inevitably resulting in possession being surrendered.

Even so, Rangers, like Hibs, struggled to create much in the final third until a lapse in concentration by Martin Canning, a central defender filling in at right-back.

He switched off momentarily as Sasa Papac played a delightful ball inside him, provided Darcheville with the opening to drill a rising shot beyond Yves Ma-Kalambay.

As in the Cup game, the goal came just as the Ibrox natives were beginning to become restless, their anxiety increasing as Rangers toiled almost as much as their visitors.

It could have been all over shortly after the interval as McGregor initiated a rapier-like raid, gathering John Rankin's free-kick before releasing Steve Davis who made ground and then timed his pass to the unmarked Darcheville perfectly. However, Ma-Kalambay stood tall to block his shot and so keep Hibs in with at least some hope.

Paatelainen recognised the need for change, throwing on both Shiels and Merouane Zemmama to try to add some zip to Hibs play but, again, it was another mistake which put the match beyond the Edinburgh side. When Davis fired a deep cross towards Hibs penalty area Chris Hogg, presumably in the absence of a shout from his goalkeeper, stretched to get his head to the ball, succeeding only in knocking it down for Novo to turn and bury a low shot into the corner of the net.

On reflection, Hogg would today probably admit he might have been better to take his chance in letting the ball go over his head towards the bye-line but it is those split-second decisions which so often prove the defining moment in so many matches.

Paatelainen said: "We lost terrible goals. It wasn't our best performance defensively. We made individual errors which was disappointing but that's why we keep pressing hard that the concentration must be there at all times."

Shiels' eighth goal of the season, the Northern Ireland internationalist alert enough to hammer the ball home after his initial effort had come back off the cross bar, gave Hibs a little hope with referee Steve Conroy signalling three minutes of additional time but, as the player himself admitted: "We rattled them a wee bit with the goal but it was too little too late."

The former Arsenal youngster was, however, brutally frank in his assessment of what had gone wrong. He said: "I don't think we believed enough. We did not deserve to win, we did not deserve to draw either.

"It was pretty grim just watching from the bench. It was a poor game from our point of view. We did not pass it well enough, we didn't put them under any pressure and we didn't have any attempts at goal.

"Rangers are a very, very difficult side to score against. Ask any other team who has played against them. They seem as if they are very comfortable defensively and with the players they have they are always going to score goals.

"But we didn't test them enough. I don't think there was enough self-belief in the team. I don't think we believed we could come here and win. You need to have that or you are already second best.

"I do feel, though, that we are good enough to go to Ibrox and win. We did it before this season but we did not perform this time, we didn't have enough people demanding to get on the ball. The manager is not happy with certain things and we'll have to work on improving."

Hibs' defeat, allied to United's win, resulted in the Edinburgh club dropping to fourth place, two points behind their UEFA Cup rivals with a trip to Motherwell and the unappetising prospect of playing on the much-criticised surface at Fir Park looming on Saturday.

Shiels, however, believes he and his team-mates can shrug off this setback. He said: "I'm not quite sure how the pitch at Fir Park is, I haven't seen it for a few months. If it is playable we will go there confident. We have been on a good run apart from the Old Firm games. We played well against Motherwell a couple of weeks ago and that will give us confidence to go there and get the three points."