November 24th 2001
Scottish Premier League
Attendance: .
Scorers:
Livingston: Xausa (2), Lowndes.
This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday on Sunday 25th November 2001
HIBS manager Alex McLeish wrote in the match programme that he wanted an “angry reaction” to his team’s defeat at Pittodrie seven days earlier. He had not anticipated that the most stinging response would be from his own supporters. The Edinburgh side were booed from the pitch after a humiliating 90 minutes in which they had become the latest victims of Livingston’s rampage through the top flight.
Dismantled in clinical fashion by two Davide Xausa goals and a late third from substitute Nathan Lowndes, Hibs find themselves slipping further into a slump that McLeish refuses to brand a crisis. With just a single win in their last six league matches, they have dropped to seventh position and languish 11 points behind yesterday’s opponents.
With the manager otherwise engaged, it was his assistant, Andy Watson, who faced the music afterwards. “I’ve drawn the short straw,” he admitted. Watson argued that, while it was a “terrible” result and he was no less frustrated than the fans, the margin of defeat had been something of a travesty. “In the first half, they had two strikes on target and got two goals,” he insisted. “On another day, the goalkeeper might have saved them.”
But yesterday wasn’t another day. And he didn’t. Watson’s revisionist slant to post-match analysis did Livingston a grave injustice.
The West Lothian side have power and pace in important areas, as well as a tendency to be explosive when it matters most. Far from lacking the possession to deserve three goals, their telling forays into the box might have harvested more. After Lowndes had a snap shot blocked by the goalkeeper seven minutes from the end, Massimiliano Caputo pounced on the rebound with an effort which glanced the crossbar on its way over the top.
Livingston, who face Celtic at Almondvale in this week’s CIS Cup quarter-finals, are now within four points of second-placed Rangers.
Having won all four of their matches against the two Edinburgh clubs, Jim Leishman’s side must be looking out the diaries to see when they next play a side from the capital. “I am running out of superlatives,” said first-team coach John Robertson. “Grounds like Tynecastle and Easter Road are hard places to win.”
McLeish sprang a surprise by dropping Nick Colgan, the goalkeeper who hadn’t missed a match since December 3, and giving Tony Caig his league debut between the posts.
The manager explained before kick-off that it was the only position he had not tampered with in his desperate attempt to identify a solution to the club’s woes. He must have been wondering what he had let himself in for when Caig fumbled a cross in the opening minute.
The goalkeeper could not be held accountable for the shambles that was to follow, however. If anyone had the look of an inexperienced debutant, it was Hibs defender Gary Smith. Twice in the opening 35 minutes the player who only recently returned from an Achilles injury was left floundering by Xausa. On each occasion, the cost was a goal.
The first, after just eight minutes, was preventable to the extent that it seemed to be conducted in slow motion. After accepting a pass from the left touchline by Davide Fernandez, Xausa cut inside Smith and looked up before pinging a low, if not particularly powerful, shot in off the far post from 20 yards out.
The same players were instrumental in the visitors’ second. Xausa, again fed by Fernandez, performed on Smith a manoeuvre of such audacity that it left the defender plonked on his behind.
By the time Livingston’s Canadian striker had rammed a low shot into the net off Caig’s right hand, Smith was swiping at thin air with a frustrated fist. Xausa might have claimed a hat-trick midway through the second half had he shown even a fraction of the composure that had been his in the opening period. Ulrik Laursen’s back header found a no-man’s land between Smith and the goalkeeper so that the Canadian had only Caig to beat. He sidefooted it past the post and was promptly replaced in a substitution that gave Cherif Toure Maman his debut.
Hibs produced the obligatory response for brief blasts of the second half, most notably in its opening few minutes, but even they will be cherished more from a Livingston perspective. Craig Brewster, who would hit the post with a fine header just a few moments later, strode on to a lay-off by Francisco Luna and struck a fierce shot that looked netbound. Nick Culkin’s save, low to the left, was memorable.
The on-loan Manchester United goalkeeper, behind Fabien Barthez, Raimond Van Der Gouw and Roy Carroll in the Old Trafford pecking order, is anxious to secure a permanent deal after rediscovering his fitness in recent weeks.
“If the opportunity arises I will seriously consider it,” he said. “The chances of me getting into the Manchester United team are non-existent.”
Tying up Marvin Andrews is a more urgent matter for the Livingston board. The Trinidadian defender, who was watched by Middlesbrough yesterday, is in negotiations with the club and must have heard the travelling support of about 800 pleading with him to “sign the deal”. Mind you, they were also championing Barry Wilson for a Scotland call-up.
That the afternoon had been a frustrating one for Hibs was apparent when Luna, booked for his part in an off-the-ball incident, was taken off in case he was sent off. “He goes that way sometimes,” explained Watson. “He got himself too involved with one or two of their players.”
Goodness knows what the Spaniard would have done to Lowndes. The former St Johnstone striker, who had come on for Wilson with 13 minutes left, drifted in from the right and guided a left-foot shot inside the far post from 20 yards out. If Livingston are not about to satisfy their critics by bursting the bubble, it is safe to say that the deflation of Hibs, ongoing since the middle of last season, has all the hallmarks of a slow puncture.
The Teams:
Hibernian: Caig, Murray, Smith, Laursen,, De la Cruz, Arpinion, Brebner Jack, J O’Neil, Brewster, Luna.
Livingston:
Hibs seem to have lost their way completely after the AEK game. With the exception of the Hearts match, we have been unable to string two passes together, let alone two results.
Livingston are brimming with confidence and looked very much like the Hibs side of this time last year. They would try things that came off and also got the break of the ball on more than one occassion.
They deservedly went in at half time two goals up, however, Hibs staged a bit of a comeback early in the second half when they created three good chances. They were all scorned and then it never looked possible that they would save the game.
In fact, it looked more likely that Livvy would add to their lead - which they did as well as hit the bar. It has to be said that Tony Caig in the Hibs goal looked more than a little at fault for more than one of the goals.
Next it's on to Dundee United in the cup on Tuesday, let's hope we can regain a bit of form.
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