IF THE day ever dawns when Hibernian can match their talent for creating chances with a killer instinct in the penalty box then the ink of the headline on the match report will be black with goals rather than frustration.
Just as they'd done the week before against Falkirk, Mixu Paatelainen's men made enough chances at Inverness on Saturday to win the match twice over. Thanks to a game plan which includes four or five attack-minded players in a front six capable of in
flicting serious damage on the opposition, Hibs ended a barren spell without an SPL goal in the Highlands but failed to secure the victory their overall superiority deserved.
Outwith the Old Firm, there isn't a more inventive or subtle forward in Scotland at the moment than Steven Fletcher. Unusually for a striker, he's relatively selfless, works for the good of the team and cheerfully creates openings for others. Whether or not a more selfish streak would increase his return in front of goal – he's averaged around a goal every four games since breaking into the first team – is open to debate. For the moment, though, the freshness of Hibs' play going forward is largely dependent on Fletcher's talent for knitting the side together.
Add to the mix the change of gear the improving Alan O'Brien offers on the left flank, Colin Nish's aerial threat in the box and the energy of Dean Shiels and Filipe Morais, a second-half substitute, breaking forward from midfield, and it was little wonder John Rankin felt it won't be too long before everything clicks into place for the Easter Road club.
"We made a few more chances than I thought we would," reflected the former Inverness midfielder. "Okay, we didn't take them, which is disappointing, but that's a team thing. I think there we made five or six decent chances and only had Colin Nish's goal to show for it. A number of us, including myself, didn't take our chances. But we can work on our finishing. One day we will take all our chances and, when that happens, I don't know how many figures we'll be into.
"We had a point to prove and I felt we gave a good account of ourselves. It's a start in the league we can now build on. We have inventive players who make chances and you can see how the competitive edge has kicked in."
Playing into the sharp breeze which is ever present at the Caledonian Stadium even on a relatively pleasant summer's afternoon, Inverness were out of the blocks quicker than Hibs and enjoyed the upper hand for much of the first-half. First to the ball and physically more imposing in midfield, Inverness counter-attacked with verve and might have scored more than once during the early exchanges.
Andy McNeil may not be the biggest goalkeeper in the SPL, but he's an astute shot-stopper and his reaction save from Ross Tokely's header was outstanding. The young goalkeeper, though, was powerless to prevent a shot from Don Cowie, which took a deflection, handing Inverness the lead after Ian Black's long-range pass had created the space.
On a grassy pitch softened by rain, it was possible to harness the wind and play over the top of the opposition without running the ball out of play. In both halves, it was the team playing into the breeze which was dominant. That said, Craig Brewster, the Inverness manager, was well aware why his side's early grip on midfield didn't last beyond the interval.
"We were very poor in the second-half and you have to credit Hibs," noted the former Easter Road striker. "They always looked dangerous on the break and fielded five attacking players who could be really dangerous, especially when we had the ball. That said, we were good in the first-half." What helped Hibs to turn the contest around was equalising within a few seconds of the re-start. They appeared to have lost the initiative on the edge of the box before O'Brien's deflected shot fell nicely for the unmarked Nish. Having already missed an easier chance in the first-half when Rankin's interception left him with only Michael Fraser to beat, the big striker showed admirable composure and drilled a low shot into the corner of the net.
Having now scored three goals in the club's last two games, Nish wasn't deterred by talk before the game of a Hibs hoodoo in the Highlands and revealed he has a habit of scoring against Inverness. "Someone told me before the game Hibs had never scored up here but that didn't put me off," he said. "In fact, I went into the game feeling I would score. I consider Inverness one of my lucky teams. We created so many chances that on another day we would have won 4-1 or 5-1."
For Hibs, though, there was satisfaction rather than irritation with a pleasingly fluent performance away from home marred only by slack finishing.
The full article contains 855 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
