April 2nd 2000
Scottish Premier League
Attendance: 9,541
Scorers:
Hibernian: Agathe (2), McManus.
This is a copy of Neil Drysdale's report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday on Sunday August 2000
LAST Sunday, Didier Agathe was everybody’s favourite butt for perpetrating the kind of myth in front of an open goal that has managers awakening in a cold sweat. And against Hearts of all opponents.
But yesterday, justifying his employer’s faith and confirming that football is a land of ephemeral fools and temporary heroes, he scored two excellent goals in Hibs’ comprehensive defeat of the poorest Dundee United team in many years.
They were second best in every department except the crime count. As much as an hour before young substitute Tom McManus struck his first goal for Hibs in added time, United were beaten, bewildered and bothered beyond recall in the opposite of a tangerine dream, orchestrated by Russell Latapy and cemented by the finishing of Agathe.
It was a sublime demonstration of how the canny Alex McLeish has quietly discarded a few worthy old sweats and assembled, without a massive budget, an effective collection of personnel who are eminently capable of unstitching defences as static as that of their rivals.
Indeed, it was difficult to credit that Paul Sturrock should be in charge of a contingent as porous as this feckless mob and you merely needed to study the body language of Franck Sauzee and Latapy to realise that they knew there were rich pickings for the taking.
The confirmation arrived in all of 80 seconds as Matthias Jack dispatched a wicked ball into the path of Agathe, who nonchalantly shrugged off David Partridge’s challenge prior to leaving Alan Combe helpless from 15 yards out.
Even at that stage, with McLeish striding around the dugout purposely, Sturrock had a queasy look about him. Sadly bereft of attacking menace or penetration, the visitors were simply dragged through the ringer by Latapy, Sauzee and John O’Neil. It was no surprise when Hibs increased their lead in the 19th minute when Agathe leapt above his would-be markers to head home Sauzee’s free-kick.
By now, the little Frenchman, late of Montpelier and Raith Rovers, was buzzing with confidence and he might have claimed a hat-trick soon afterwards, but for a desperate clearance from Craig Easton. Yet such was his side’s domination that they weaved neat patterns and constructed elaborate puzzles for United almost at a walking pace.
Clearly, that rhythm suits Latapy to a T and straight from the resumption, he unveiled a sweet nutmeg from which O’Neil really should have done better. Minutes later, Tom Smith was also profligate with Latapy’s impeccable service, but if truth be told, it barely seemed to matter by then.
That didn’t stop McLeish from bawling furious reproaches at his troops as they occasionally slackened their grip and allowed United to edge a few fractions into contention.
But on the evidence of this miserable display from the Tanadice men, who slipped to their sixth successive league defeat, a statistic that can scarcely provide light relief for the saturnine soul that is Sturrock, they will have to contemplate the prospect of a long haul to avoid relegation.
Their misery was almost complete when Hibs began showboating with a training ground ploy, Latapy chipping a corner kick into the path of Sauzee, who almost delivered the coup de grâce, but as the minutes ticked away and United introduced Jim Hamilton to dog’s abuse and Alex Mathie to a funereal silence, it felt like a ritual rather than a serious attempt to rectify the mess.
Of more significance, was that when Agathe was replaced late on, he was accorded a hero’s ovation.
The Teams:
Hibernian: Colgan, T Smith, G Smith, Fenwick, Laursen, Sauzee, Jack, J O’Neil, Latapy, Agathe, Paatelainen.
Dundee United: Combe, McQuillan, De Vos, Heaney, Aljofree, Paterson, Thompson, Partridge, Easton, Venetis, Buchan.
Well they've flattened the Eater Road Pitch, or so they tell me. From where I was standing it looked as if they had reversed it so that what used to be up was down and what used to be down was up!
However there can be no doubt that this Hibs performance was an impressive start to the new look Easter Road. Didier Agathe made up for last weeks miss in double quick time, showing good pace to force the United defence into a mistake, before calmly drilling the ball past the United keeper.
Sauzee and Latapy were once again outstanding, the fact that Latapy was given the Man of the Match award despite Agathe scoring twice only goes to show how well he played.
Elsewhere the whole team played as a good solid unit, with only Tom Smith fading in and out at times. It was also great to see Tom McManus get his first Hibs goal, this will surely boost his confidence.
All in all, a good performance and the Hibs fans can't wait until next weeks game against Dundee.
This site has no official connection to Hibernian Football Club. All articles contained in this site are representative of the views of the individual authors concerned, and should not be regarded as being the views of the Editors of the individual publications used. Where possible copyrights have been acknowledged, any apparent or implied infringements brought to the attention of the Site Editors will be acted upon. This site has been created, designed and maintained by Fatty and Baldy , with contributions from many Hibs fans. |