Hibernian 2 St Mirren 0

August 26th 2000
Scottish Premier League
Attendance: 11,806

Scorers:
Hibernian: Lovell(2).

This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday on Sunday 27th August 2000

Hibs riding high on confidence and a new wave of expectation

This wasn’t sublime by any means, but the bandwagon which is Alex McLeish and Hibs continues to roll. Perhaps not since Alex Cropley and Pat Stanton were together in green have we been able to relate from Easter Road that Hibs are now standing four points clear at the top of the league. The club’s historians will be at liberty to work out such arithmetic, but McLeish’s team is certainly the most promising seen in these parts in a long time.

Sir Alex Ferguson would be proud of the grim statistics flung together by his young protege this early in the season - this was Hibs’ fifth win in their six SPL outings, in which they have gathered 16 points, scored thirteen and conceded a solitary goal. These facts represent an exciting coming of age for McLeish as a manager, a period when he is flushing with confidence following every rousing outing by his team.

Two goals from Stuart Lovell settled this match, but it is the mentality currently spewing through Hibs which saw St Mirren brought to their knees. As a former defender McLeish will certainly know where his priorities lie, but his team flow forward with ease and vigour, channelling their attacks through a couple of anarchic strikers. With Didier Agathe injured, McLeish threw Dirk Lehmann and Mixu Paatelainen at St Mirren - a pair who aren’t world-beaters, but whom McLeish has plated with steel.

To the neutral this game represented a timely reminder of the worth of having Paatelainen in your team. The Finn was once an economics student, and he evidently knows the worth of percentage runs and shots. With a chest like a barrel and these brawny, bandy legs, it is easy to dismiss the striker as an overseas jobber. Paatelainen, though, repeatedly stole past opponents and contrived shots from awkward angles.

Hibs were also nicely blessed with craft and graft across their midriff. Russell Latapy is a beacon in the Scottish game, but beside him was positioned a man who, to put it quaintly, likes to put it about. McLeish originally bought Matthias Jack to be an intimidating defender, but in this game he played the perfect role as a growling minder for Latapy. St Mirren, as a result, were rumbled in midfield.

McLeish took all the adulation later but laced it with realism.

"I can’t complain about anything so far - the players have given me a great shift so far," he said. "A measure of how well the team has done is the expectation you now sense among our fans around here.

"But I’m aware we’ve still to meet Rangers and Celtic. We know these two have incredible strength and power."

Tom Hendrie thought his team a little unlucky, and there are certainly remarkable aspects to this revived St Mirren side - not least the twinkle-toed Angolan, Jose Quitongo, and a man who in any opposition team would be his nemesis, the strapping German, Jens Paeslack. Quitongo, with his slippery physique and disorientating runs - disorientating even unto himself - is well enough recognised. This German’s style of play, though, has to be seen to be believed.

Hendrie already has one brick outhouse for a striker in Mark Yardley, who was on the bench yesterday. Last May, though, Hendrie evidently decided he needed a further batch of brawn and spotted the fearsome Paeslack, ironically in a trial playing for Hibs against St Mirren. McLeish took one look at this man and decreed that, with Lehmann and Paatelainen already in his team, he had enough arms, legs and chests to go round. Hendrie, though, promptly plucked the German.

In appearance Paeslack is not unlike the ferocious Carsten Jancker of Bayern Munich - big, bald and with a head seemingly made for butting - but there the similarity ends. St Mirren played decently here but were repeatedly let down by ragged technique - revealed either in a poor first touch or a skewed final pass - which their German striker somehow symbolised. St Mirren zoomed through the First Division last year playing lovely, fluent football. It is to be hoped they won’t be resorting to this kind of wrecking-ball to ensure their survival this term.

Hendrie, of course, has to make and mend with meagre resources. Quitongo, a likeable wee fellow, has been a standing joke for some years, but he certainly has the ability to slither and squirm beyond opponents. In this match there were repeated moments involving men the size of the Eiffel Tower like Franck Sauzee who couldn’t guess which way the little African would turn. These were fleeting moments, though - Hibs assaulted St Mirren, especially in the first half.

Ironically for a big defender, McLeish is building a team upon the romantic notion of attack. It was a mentality which certainly served Hibs well, despite this poor game’s recurring gruelling passages.

St Mirren, indeed, had their French goalkeeper, Ludovic Roy, to thank for keeping Hibs at bay longer than the home side deserved.

Twice the lanky stopper leapt to glory to block from Paatelainen, once from a header, a second time from a shot, as Hibs enjoyed a period before half-time when they rained down efforts on St Mirren’s goal.

Roy also tipped an O’Neil header over and later, with his fists, diverted a stinging volley from Franck Sauzee, all of which seemed enough to decorate this goalkeeper with some sort of medal. Even the Frenchman, though, became helpless when Hibs scored.

The goal came out of nothing but was certainly what Hibs deserved. Sauzee’s long pass was possessed and prodded on through the inside-left channel by O’Neil, who released the ball for Lovell to ghost in and poke it beyond Roy.

St Mirren were to grind away forlornly in the second half, but their effort took the form of much hapless aerial bombardment.

In the dying second - "This one was cruel on us," said Hendrie - Lovell stabbed Hibs’ second from 16 yards.

Hibs’ Lovell best

Ain't what you do, it’s the way that you do it. Don’t you believe it. League leaders Hibernian made hard work of defeating Scottish Premier League newcomers St Mirren yesterday, and, while that will concern manager Alex McLeish, the fans are unlikely to care. They toddled home happy with the three points that moved them four ahead of the Old Firm, ensuring they will retain their lofty slot for at least another fortnight, thanks to the LatviavScotland match on Saturday.

While the Easter Road side’s rearguard was rarely troubled - they have still conceded just one league goal in six games - the team’s playmakers took their time in finding a way past their opponents’ defence, and the inspired Ludovic Roy, to get the goal their play merited.

Eventually, it was Stuart Lovell who obliged in the 43rd minute, just as the home support was growing restless.

McLeish will be frustrated that the second half was more of the same as the Edinburgh side failed to capitalise on their superior amount of possession and chances, leaving themselves vulnerable to a suckerpunch.

The goal that had looked inevitable throughout the game, though, finally arrived in the 90th minute - a second for Lovell. It was well appreciated, but those with a nervous disposition would have appreciated it more had it arrived at least 30 minutes earlier.

The Teams:

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

St Mirren: Roy, Nicholson, McGowan, Turner, McLaughlin, Walker, Murray, Gillies, McGarry, Paeslack, Quitongo.

Tale from the Terracing - Fatty's View

This was probably Hibs worst performance of the season so far. However, we did still win which as they say is the sign of a good team.

With Agathe missing with a hamstring injury, Dirk Lehmann took his place in the Hibs forward line. Although he tried his heart out he just didn't seem to make any headway against a workmanlike St Mirren team.

Lehmann wasn't the only player to struggle today. Both Sauzee and Latapy would be first to admit that they had quiet games and that some of their play wasn't up to their usual high standard.

However, Nick Colgan rarely had a save to make, while at the other end Hibs did create a number of opportunities throughout the match, so perhaps I am being a little harsh on them and I should just be thankful for the three points that takes us clear at the top of the SPL.

It should also be pointed out that the refereeing of David Somers in this match was appauling. The number of reckless challenges that went in on Latapy without being punished with a card of any colour was unbelievable. This combined with other quite baffling decisions did nothing to enhance Mr Sommers' reputation.

Anyway musn't grumble too much - bring on the Celtic in two weeks!

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