Hibernian 2 Motherwell 0

September 16th 2000
Scottish Premier League
Attendance:

Scorers:
Hibernian: Paatelainen (2).

This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday on Sunday 17th September 2000

Finnish article is Hibs' saviour

It was Arnold Palmer who once said that the harder you work, the luckier you get. Hibs will find it hard to swallow those words of wisdom after being denied two blatant first-half penalties by the referee and a Mixu Paatelainen goal by the crossbar. Wherever Lady Luck was yesterday, she wasn't at Easter Road and if she was she was wearing a Motherwell scarf.

The home side, who were brought back down to earth against Celtic after a blistering start to the season, were searching for a quick pick-me-up, and the three points required to take them back to the top of the table, but while they can often produce passages of play worthy of league leaders, there remained questions over their mental strength.

Nerves curtailed them in the opening skirmishes and far from offering their typical example of free-flowing football, their play was jagged and stilted. While the midfield, which has dictated most of the games they have been involved in this term struggled to find their feet, and some breathing space, Motherwell hustled and harried, plodding forward with endeavour rather than anything more exotic.

With the guile posted missing Hibs resorted to hard graft, battling and bruising their way back into the fight. It wasn't always pretty but it was effective. The game began to ebb in Hibs' direction and, when Don Goodman's 'goal' was chopped off for offside, after Nick Colgan had parried Stuart Elliott's initial shot and the linesman had raised his flag, dropped it and then decided to flap it again, it looked like it could be Hibs' lucky day.

But the decisions that were to follow put paid to any notion that a lofty position in the league automatically brings with it the same level of refereeing favouritism the Old Firm are said to benefit from. If Hibs are going to maintain their challenge, they will have to do it on their own, Alex McLeish's outspoken views about the standard of refereeing in this country obviously riling the men in black's union.

The evidence was there for all to see in the 30th minute when Dirk Lehmann had the legs swiped from under him by Stephen McMillan, but while the fans celebrated what they considered a certain penalty award, Mike McCurry waved play on and to rub salt in the wounds returned to book the Hibs striker as soon as play halted.

If the fans, management and players were incredulous then, they were absolutely livid when the same attitude greeted another incident in the box minutes later. Lehmann was again the player wronged , this time tumbled by Benito Kemble when clean through. The referee turned a blind eye, but refused to turn a deaf ear to Hibs' skipper Frank Sauzee's protestations, booking the Frenchman for venting his fury. His anger was understandable. Lehmann had no reason to drop voluntarily, with the goalmouth beckoning and, surely, another yellow card waiting for him should he be deemed to have dived would show he was not acting. In the end the referee bottled it, awarding neither the penalty nor a yellow card for diving.

"They were both penalties and the referee said afterwards that it was a foul but that I couldn't get to the ball, so I don't know why he came back and gave me a yellow card," said Lehmann. "But the two decisions woke us up a little bit and we got into the game more, but I was a little bit scared after that when there was an incident in the box because I had a yellow card. Why would I fall in that situation, when I was one on one again?"

But out of adversity, Hibs showed their spirit as manager Alex McLeish testified to. "It seemed to get them going," he said, having learnt his lesson from last week's outburst when the Edinburgh club had another penalty decision go against them at Celtic Park last week. "I just said to them that we had the spur now and told them to keep it going."

That they did, emerging for the second half with the bit between their teeth. Having finished the first half in the ascendency, they ran, passed and charged at Motherwell and as the Fir Park manager Billy Davies conceded, won the majority of the individual battles going on all over the pitch.

The breakthough finally came in the 48th minute when Andy Goram failed to hold a driven Sauzee free-kick allowing the mercurial Russel Latapy to blast in a shot which richotted off the sizeable thigh of Mixu Paatelainen and deflected past the stranded goalkeeper. The strapping striker admitted afterwards that it was lucky, but he was claiming the goal anyway. Even with the one goal lead, the crowd, as much as the players, remained edgy as they searched for a second goal. Tom Smith came close, but his effort, stretching at a ball, was stifled by Goram and Stuart Lovell's effort from the edge of the box, though pacy, was straight at the goalkeeper. Then came big Paatelainen's header which bounced back off the bar. But the mental toughness many were questioning through the edgy opening spell, was there and Hibs pushed forward, finding the confidence and self-belief to start stroking the ball around and provide the entertainment they are capable of.

The deciding goal was a worthy reward for their efforts, even if it was down to a long hoof up the park. McLeish referred to it as an old-fashioned British goal, even if it was the product of an Irishman a German and a Finn. The goal clearance from goalkeeper Nick Colgan, Flicked on by Lehmann for Paatelainen to hold off Ange Oueifio and drill low past Goram.

It took Hibs a while to settle and luck was not on their side, but in the end, they won this and they won it comfortably and that is all that concerns the folk of Leith.

The Teams:

Hibernian: Colgan, T Smith, G Smith, Fenwick, Sauzee, Jack, J O’Neil, Latapy, Lehmann, Lovell, Paatelainen.

Motherwell:

Tale from the Terracing - Fatty's View

A game of two halves if ever there was one!

The first half saw Hibs become increasingly frustrated by inept refereeing. How Mr McCurry could fail to give either of the two stone wall penalties, that Dirk Lehmann seemed to have earned, was as unbelievable as how Mr Rowbotham could give the one at Celtic Park last week.

The second half saw Hibs emerge from the tunnel with their sleeves rolled up and a new determination to win this game. Two goals from big Mixu, the first deflected in from a Russell Latapy shot and the second a good shot from 16 yards, were the least they deserved from this game.

Although, not a dazzling performance from Hibs, except for a sparkling 15 minutes after the first goal, it was workman like. However, Dirk Lehmann only seems to be a threat when he comes off the bench and the sooner David Zitelli finds his feet and replaces him in the team, the better.

Still, musn't grumble too much now that we are back at the top of the SPL - roll on Dunfermline next week.

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