Hibernian 1 Rangers 0

October 14th 2000
Scottish Premier League
Attendance: 14,525

Scorers:
Hibernian: Zitelli.

This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday on Sunday 15th October 2000

Hibs on high in Easter parade

The psychological wealth of this result surely cannot be lost on Hibs. In their critical hour of judgement, called to beat Rangers, they duly did. A David Zitelli goal during a buoyant opening half from the home team secured three precious SPL points but provided much more around Easter Road. Hibs now have proof, for all their handicaps, that they can handle Rangers.

The game ended with surges of Rangers attacks washing towards Nicky Colgan’s goal but if Dick Advocaat was honest, his depleted team lacked a predator’s kill in the box. Rangers in attack looked ragged, with Advocaat, including his substitutes, trying five strikers in all, one of whom, Andrei Kanchelskis, ended up being ordered off. Poor Billy Dodds, playing in a withdrawn role behind two strikers, suffered a disjointed afternoon.

The match, though, hung on a 58th-minute incident which last night awaited the trial of television analysis. Kanchelskis certainly appeared to be caught by Gary Smith’s lunge as he was about to exploit a clear scoring opportunity but, more than that, through a forest of players, the referee, Kenny Clark, looked unsighted. Clark, though, made straight for the Rangers striker and booked him, an act which caused Advocaat to leap on to the pitch. Perhaps Kanchelskis went down late but he certainly appeared to have been clipped.

Afterwards, Advocaat found a novel way of tip-toeing across the verbal minefield that can bring an SFA fine. "You have to be careful what you say about referees these days - you can get the prison for it," he muttered to a reporter.

His blood cooling, Advocaat then added: "He is a good referee. Sometimes these things go for you and sometimes against. In the past maybe we have been lucky in this stadium and maybe today we were unlucky. But I thought some of our yellow cards were given cheaply."

But Hibs were brave and Franck Sauzee was simply cussed in his defiance. After only 10 minutes, he looked puggled, but slowly restored himself to ply this game with his wares. Sauzee also, for want of finer words, inflicted a few gouging hacks, some of which went punished by Clark, others of which rescued Hibs in critical moments.

The match proved ferociously difficult to referee for Clark. The pace of the game, the constant collision of players, not to mention the repeated advances on the touchline by both Advocaat and Alex McLeish, meant Clark often looked as though he was trying to quell a minor riot. The referee didn’t get everything right, but the tight confines of Easter Road meant he was in charge of a raucous assembly. Tom Brown, the fourth official, also took plenty flak from the dugouts.

Advocaat is at his barrelling best on these occasions. With his squat, formidable carriage not unlike that of Mussolini’s, he makes a frightening figure stomping the five yards towards the pitch. If it is not the referee who is getting it in the neck, it will be one of his players who has strayed from his duties.

Rangers might complain that they were missing nine players, but in these situations Ibrox is usually overrun with reserves - Advocaat yesterday still put out a team of seven internationalists. His most noted absence, and greatest concern, remains the unavailability of both Lionel Charbonnier and Stefan Klos. Mark Brown once more deputised yesterday but was left exposed by a cluster of defenders when conceding Hibs’ goal.

A crowd of 14,525 appeared to be twice as many, certainly given the fever and racket around the stadium. For Hibs, this was their critical hour. McLeish had sounded almost abashed on the wireless before kick-off, sensing Hibs’ ascendancy in the SPL but appreciating that his team might freeze within the cauldron. "Sometimes on these occasions it just doesn’t turn out like you wish," he said warily. Frankly, there was such caution in his voice that you were not sure he believed his team could do this.

Hibs, though, had conviction and plenty of aggression. After a misleading opening quarter when Hibs had solid control, Rangers began to assert themselves, but not to the point of riling their hosts.

The most piercing intrusions of the opening half careered towards Brown’s goal and, aghast at this, Advocaat replaced Sergio Porrini and Allan Johnston with Kanchelskis and Kenny Miller at half time. Hibs assaulted Rangers with passion and, just when they appeared to be wilting momentarily, they snatched their lead.

John O’Neil, who was excellent yesterday, played the pass into the path of Zitelli, whose run through the old inside-right channel appeared to go unchecked. The Frenchman seemed at one stage to be over-running the ball before his stretched right leg clipped his shot beyond Brown.

The game, though, hinged on the critical Kanchelskis incident after 58 minutes. Not a lot often goes right for this winger, but on this occasion, he drifted clear of everyone in the Hibs defence before only Colgan stood before him and the net. Kanchelskis appeared to linger too long over the shot but Smith’s leg did seem to catch him.

Twenty minutes later, Kanchelskis was taking an early bath. Having been booked for his alleged dive, he then put a late tackle into Ulrik Laursen. The winger trudged from the Easter Road pitch with a strange air of detachment

The Teams:

Hibernian: Colgan, Lauresen, G Smith, Fenwick, Lovell, Sauzee, Jack, J O’Neil, Latapy, Zitelli (Lehmann 45), Paatelainen.

Rangers: .

David beats the Goliaths

The glory most certainly belonged to Hibs, but the celebrations were shared by Celtic fans after the Easter Road side put a Rangers team bludgeoned by injuries to the sword yesterday.

Alex McLeish had insisted on Friday that his side are not realistic title challengers, and he may well have a valid point, but they certainly don’t seem keen to drop out of the running just yet, defeating Rangers courtesy of a first-half goal from Frenchman David Zitelli. Even if they are in fact better suited to the sprint that the marathon of a season-long campaign, Hibs still appear determined to have a say in where the SPL flag is unfurled on the first day of next season.

The victory - allied to Celtic’s 2-0 triumph over St Mirren - takes the Parkhead side six points clear of their Old Firm rivals and, for the time being, blows a raspberry at Jorg Albertz’s prediction that Rangers will peg back the current leaders.

Perhaps buoyed by the number of quality personnel Rangers had sitting injured in the stand, or perhaps still feeling they had a point to prove after they capitulated to Celtic so easily earlier in the season, the Edinburgh side never looked like they were going to be lambs to the slaughter this time round.

With so many of Rangers’ influential Dutchmen sidelined through injury - Arthur Numan, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Fernando Ricksen, Ronald de Boer and Michael Mols were all missing - it was down to Hibs’ French connection to leave their print on the match. As well as Zitelli’s goal - a 23rd-minute strike from the edge of the box after a Tugay mistake had let John O’Neil send over the cross - it was a rash tackle on Gallic star Franck Sauzee which earned Andrei Kanchelskis his second yellow card and an early bath.

The result, but probably more so the display, will surely give Dick Advocaat sleepless nights in the build up to this week’s Champions League match against Galatasaray.

While German goalkeeper Stefan Klos is expected to return in time for Tuesday’s match, yesterday’s performance will have rekindled old fears over the reliability of the men in front of him, with Lorenzo Amoruso, supplying a couple of heart-stopping moments, before Tugay’s blunder set up the goal.

The Celtic fans with their trannies to their ears were singing and dancing at Parkhead, especially after their idol Henrik Larsson added to Chris Sutton’s first-half effort in the 84th minute.

The win keeps them two points ahead of Hibs, with a game in hand and the match also marked the debut of Didier Agathe, a man who played a key role in Hibs’ flying start to the season, prior to his move to the east end of Glasgow.

Also making his debut was Claudio Cannigia, in Dundee’s match against Aberdeen at Pittodrie. The Argentinian star took to the pitch just before half-time and scored the second goal as his side triumphed 2-0.

The opening goal came from player/manager Ivano Bonetti - a sublime lob from the edge of the box - but Cannigia is too big a name to play second fiddle to anyone, even his boss, and tied up all three points in injury time. After the match Bonetti confirmed that goalkeeper Rab Douglas had played his last game for the Tayside team, saying he was expected to sign for Celtic tomorrow.

Elsewhere, Hearts fans angered by the sale of Gary Naysmith were temporarily soothed by a 4-0 gubbing of Dundee United at Tannadice. Kilmarnock, in fourth place, maintained their four-point gap over the Gorgie side by virtue of their 2-1 win over Dunfermline.

Motherwell were the only team to better their league position, though, as their 4-0 defeat of St Johnstone took them ahead of St Mirren, third from the bottom.

Tale from the Terracing - Fatty's View

Despite a woeful performance from referee Kenny Clark, Hibs defended with a passion and determination that has become their trademark this season.

The statistics speak for themselves at the end of the first quarter - 26 from 33 points, 6 of our games played away from home, 8 clean sheets out of 11 and maximum points from ou 5 home games. This is beyond every Hibs fans expectations at this stage.

On top of this two out of three of, arguably, our hardest fixtures (Hearts and the Old Firm) have been away from home.

Back to the game - Hibs approached this game with a tremendous attitude - they harrassed and attacked Rangers at every opportunity. David Zittelli looks to be coming on to form, three shots at goal, all on target and one goal, just what we need. However it was a little worrying that he failed to appear for the second half.

While neither team created too many clear cut chances Gary Smith can count himself unlucky that he didn't double Hibs lead when his 25 yard shot bounced on top of the crossbar.

Hearts on Sky next week - more of the same please - I hear they are weak at left back!

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