Alloa Athletic 0 Hibernian 2

24th September 2002
Scottish League Cup
Attendance:

Scorers:
Hibernian: Brebner, O'Connor.

This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotsman on Wednesday 25th September 2002

Brebner goal shakes Hibs out of stupor

HIBS experienced the old football sensation last night that nothing can change the course of the game as dramatically as a goal. Until Grant Brebner opened the scoring 15 minutes into the second half, Alloa Athletic had looked distinctly capable of causing an upset in this CIS Cup second-round tie. Thereafter, it was something of a siege.

The transformation of Bobby Williamson’s side once into the lead was as dramatic as that of Alloa after falling behind. Garry O’Connor’s goal might, with a little more composed finishing of his own, and from Paco Luna and Derek Townsley, have been one of a glut of late goals which would have been harsh given the admirable challenge of Alloa.

In the 73rd minute, O’Connor received a quick ball out of defence and discovered that, so intent were Alloa on seeking an equaliser, that he only had Craig Valentine to beat. The striker got within 20 yards of goal and made enough space to the left of the defender to unleash his shot. O’Connor, who had misfired meekly all night, curled his left foot around the ball this time, and it flew beautifully inside the post.

As ever in these knockout contests, the underdogs’ hopes lay in experience, not form. Alloa may be bottom of the First Division but they had legitimate reason for optimism in the presence of certain talismanic influences within their camp.

Christie, the Athletic manager, would be able to call upon the memory of applecart-upsetting defeats of Aberdeen, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock, while additional omens lay with former Hibs striker Gareth Evans, and Scott Crabbe, a man who never lost to the Leith side in eight years at Hearts.

In the 54 years since Christie, a Hibs fan as a boy, saw his first game at Easter Road, he cannot have often seen them play as incoherently as in the first half here.

Gary Smith’s lame attempt to volley clear a harmless long ball in the ninth minute presented an opportunity for Crabbe, 40 yards out. With Nick Colgan off his line, the former Hearts striker’s effort sailed narrowly over the crossbar.

Crabbe misdirected an easier chance on the head after Steve Thomson profited from another woeful clearance, this time from Janos Matyus, to swing an accurate cross to the far post. Crabbe, still as evasive as ever, snuck between Smith and Yannick Zambernardi but over-compensated in trying to send the ball to Colgan’s left.

Williamson, continually haranguing his players from the touchline, was not amused by what he saw.

This was an understandable reaction given that his team were being upstaged by a part-time outfit. In the areas of ball control, strategic organisation and urgency of attention, Hibs were for half an hour drastically inferior.

There was an entire lack of composure and professionalism about their efforts to dominate.

Only from the dangerous corners of Jarkko Wiss, which the home team defended in a constant state of emergency, did Hibs ever induce moments of anxiety within the mind of James Evans, the Alloa goalkeeper.

The inadequacies in the Hibs defence resurfaced almost as soon as the second half kicked off. A swirling ball from the right by Valentine looked innocent enough until Ian Little emerged from the confusion to take it on the volley and shoot accurately, if not very strongly at Colgan from close range.

To the dismay of the Hibs manager, Little was unmarked again as he received an excellent cross from Crabbe and met it firmly with his head. Colgan was a static observer this time, as the effort drifted only a foot past his left hand post.

However, anybody with experience of David versus Goliath cup ties would have experienced a knowing feeling at this point that Athletic needed to have converted one of their chances, and sure enough Hibs scored through their first fluent attack of the night.

Alen Orman found unlimited space on the right and swung the ball pleasingly into the box for Luna. For the first time in the match, a Hibs player seemed to know exactly what was required of him. Luna, instead of stooping to glance the ball with his head, stood up and chested it into the path of Brebner, who allowed it to bounce before smashing it through the hands of Evans and high into the corner of his net.

Alloa: J Evans, Valentine, Seaton, Watson, Thomson, Cowan, Hamilton, Derek Ferguson, Crabbe, Hutchison, Little. Subs: MacDonald, G Evans, Knox, Elliott, Hogarth.

Hibernian: Colgan, Smith, Matyus, Zambernardi, Fenwick, Wiss, O’Connor, Brebner, Luna, Orman, Townsley. Subs: Nicol, Paatelainen, M Dempsie, Riordan, Caig.

HOME