November 18th 2000
Scottish Premier League
Attendance:
Scorers:
Aberdeen: Stavrum, Mayer.
This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday on Sunday 19th November 2000
A rare Aberdeen away victory raises serious questions over the Easter Road side’s credentials for the SPL title
WHETHER or not the bubble has burst at Easter Road, now is the time when perhaps we’ll really get a measure of Alex McLeish’s team. How they react to dropping five points over successive Saturdays at home will be a test of their mettle while the more cynical among even their own support will now be discounting their form so far this season as a fair weather flourish that is part of Hibs’ historical ambience.
However, while Hibs stutter, the story of yesterday’s game was that Aberdeen finally got the breaks they’d been deserving recently. Patronised by pundits for their attractive football and youthful exuberance, they have more or less been discounted as lacking that edge needed to grind out results to get into the top six. Indeed they had only won away once so far this season, at Tannadice, but yesterday they comprehensively outplayed Hibs in every respect.
Their passing was more fluent which was no mean feat against opponents made up of Franck Sauzee, Russell Latapy and John O’Neil and they pressed the game a lot better, suffocating the Hibs midfield and putting the home defence on the back foot. In Aberdeen’s defence Derek Whyte and Thomas Solberg moved up quickly and with Hibs missing Mixu Paatelainen the home side were having trouble holding the ball up front.
On top of all this, though, Aberdeen seemed the hungrier side and their youthful brio exposed Hibs’ more mature outfit as leaden-footed at times. Obviously Aberdeen’s confidence had been boosted despite their defeat by Rangers last week as only someone watching that game through a blue tint would feel they didn’t deserve to get a result. Meanwhile Hibs had a sluggish performance against Kilmarnock hanging over them and never slipped into the groove at all.
With new signing Alex Di Rocco pushing right up on Hibs’ defence, Arild Stavrum moved up into attack on the right from midfield whenever they went forward while Robbie Winters was playing deep in what is usually Eoin Jess’s position.
On the left Chris Clark and Kevin McNaughton relentlessly pushed up causing Gary Smith all sorts of problems. The Hibs back three were stretched to the limit and Aberdeen began to create chances. Winters put Stavrum and Cato Gunveit round the back of the home defence on the right and Gunveit’s chip in the 17th minute proved too slack as Hibs goalkeeper Nick Colgan was the last line of defence. Meantime Di Rocco was pulling Paul Fenwick all over the place and twice outjumped him on crosses. The first flashed past the post and then in the 27th minute it looked as if he had scored until Colgan blocked the powerful downward header.
A sweet move down the left between McNaughton and Clark picked out Di Rocco at the back post but his countryman Sauzee was back on the line to clear. What was lacking perhaps was a lack of a cutting edge on the final ball, but this was to be rectified with a substitution on the hour mark and thus Aberdeen’s superiority was to be converted into goals. However before that Hibs’ best chance was self-inflicted by Aberdeen when Whyte’s pass-back to Ryan Easson was skidding past for a corner. The goalkeeper instinctively dived to keep possession but gave away a free kick eight yards out.
Fortunately for Ebbe Skovdahl, seething with frustration on the bench, Sauzee unimaginatively slammed it into a morass of legs. Another Sauzee free-kick shortly after the restart saw Easson make a fine save but the pressure was almost all now on Colgan. In the 59th minute Skovdahl turned the game, bringing on Jess for Chris Clark and Winters went out left.
Three minutes later a foray forward from Whyte saw the centre back push the ball out to the wing and Winters’ searing pass across the six-yard box saw Stavrum nip in front of his defender to score.
More chances were to follow with McNaughton twice being denied by Colgan while Stavrum could have made it two when a reverse pass from Jess released him on the right.
As Hibs had to push forward more space opened up for Aberdeen and another substitute, Andreas Mayer, hit the bar but eventually found the target two minutes into added on time when it was again Winters on the left who wreaked havoc in the Hibs defence. The German’s task was straightforward as all he had to do was turn Winters’ cut back in. While Skovdahl praised 18-year-old McNaughton and Winters he stressed his pleasure at the overall team performance. Meanwhile Hibs’ goalkeeper Colgan dismissed notions that Hibs bubble had burst or a series of contract renegotiations involving Sauzee, Latapy and himself had unsettled the team. Alex McLeish’s men, however, will need to immediately get back on track at Love Street next week to convince Scottish football in general that a serious challenge in the league is coming from Easter Road.
As for Aberdeen, a combination of their youth policy and their coach’s astute reading of the game could see them push further up the league.
The Teams:
Hibernian: Colgan, Murray, G Smith, Fenwick, Sauzee, Jack, J O’Neil, Latapy, Lehmann, Zitelli, Laursen.
Aberdeen: Esson, Whyte, Solberg, Rowson, McNaughton, Guntveit, Clark, Young, Winters, Stavrum, Di Rocco.
Undoutably Hibs worst performance of the season so far, however, I find it quite disturbing that after the start to the season we have had, so called, Hibs fans were booing players off the pitch when being substituted and at the final whistle. Okay, so Dirk Lehmann may not be the best striker in the world, but he is wearing a Hibs jersey, so let's get behind him and the rest of the team.
Although the scoreline flattered Aberdeen, it has to be said that Hibs failed to create many clear cut chances. Time after time, Zitelli was waiting for a through ball that just never arrived at his feet. Not that the rest of the team failed to see him, it just seemed that everything they tried, failed to come off.
We seemed to miss big Mixu more than we thought we might - maybe the snipers that say he is past it will take note that his prescence up front as well as his ability to link up with the midfield was badly missed.
The only bright spot today was that Hearts were hammered 6 - 1 by Celtic!
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