Hibernian 2 Dundee 1

16th November 2002
Scottish Premier League
Attendance:

Scorers:
Hibernian: Paatelainen (2).
Dundee: Novo.

This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday on Sunday 17th November 2002

Mixu on strike in 35-hour week

HIBS chief executive Rod Petrie has issued his players with a new contract of employment which demands that they work for at least 35 hours of every week. He’ll be lucky. With 35 minutes remaining of yesterday’s match against Dundee, Bobby Williamson’s team decided to knock off early.

Two goals by Mixu Paatelainen, the second a penalty just four minutes after the interval, persuaded the home side that there was nothing else for it but to down tools. They still managed to get the job done but, in the event of a more onerous challenge, such slovenliness in the workplace will not go unpunished.

Hearts proved as much with two late goals in the recent Edinburgh derby.

Dundee came up with only one, a rasping strike in injury time by substitute Nacho Novo, but Jim Duffy’s side must have been frustrated to suffer their first defeat at Easter Road since January of last year.

They conceded large swathes of possession in the first half but succumbed to a pair of soft goals, and were far more dangerous during a dominant last half-hour than Hibs had been at any stage of the match. "I said ‘well done’ to my players," revealed Duffy. "That might sound strange after losing the match, but they gave everything."

The passing of the hour mark prompted Dundee’s manager to reshuffle his formation with an abandon of which his counterpart at Dunfermline, Jimmy Calderwood, would have been proud. Duffy could hardly have been accused of negativity in the first place, thrusting three up front from the start, but his replacement of defender Tom Hutchison with Novo was adventure personified.

The Spanish striker joined Juan Sara, Fabian Caballero and Steve Lovell in what was, to all intents and purposes, a 4-2-4 formation that consigned Williamson to 30 minutes of unrelenting anxiety. Duffy spent so much time waving his players up the field that it will be no surprise if he wakes up this morning with a sore elbow.

Hibs goalkeeper Nick Colgan twice had to smother the ball, first when Lovell was clean through and then when Sara strove to capitalise on a short passback by Ian Murray, but he was unable to prevent the goal which was too late to affect the outcome. Novo’s low shot from 16 yards seemed to touch Colgan’s gloves as it speared in off the near post.

In the madness that followed, Dundee goalkeeper Julian Speroni dashed up the field, against Duffy’s orders, to nod his head at a corner kick in the dying seconds. The manager sympathised with the Argentine’s intentions. "I suppose it doesn’t really matter who goes up," he conceded. "If I could have got the kitman on the pitch, I would have."

The victory extends to five points Hibs’ advantage over sixth-placed Dundee, who had hitherto lost only to Celtic, Rangers and Dunfermline in the league this season. It certainly was not what Duffy had hoped for on his first return to Easter Road since that sorry day in February 1998 when he was officially relieved of his managerial duties.

He claims to be more careful and measured than he was in those days, but his example does not appear to have rubbed off on his players.

Although the Georgian Zurab Khizanishvili returned to the starting line-up after his suspension for a sending-off against Rangers, Lee Wilkie was absent after receiving the same punishment against Dunfermline in midweek.

The Scotland defender may be clumsy and a little unpredictable at times, but his height would have been useful in the 12th minute. His deputies were slow to respond when Hibs’ young wing-back, Craig James, exchanged a smart one-two with Paco Luna and supplied the curling cross from which Paatelainen scored his fourth goal of the season.

That the big Finn is still thundering into defences at 35, his bleached crop offering only the vaguest illusion of youth, probably says as much about Scottish football as it does about the striker’s longevity. However, the way he levered his body off the ground to glance what was a deep cross inside the back post was evidence enough of his continued threat.

Hibs’ John O’Neil was granted his first start since dislocating his advertising board at Tynecastle in August.

The former St Johnstone midfielder seemed to have lost none of his customary endeavour, prompting and probing with an intelligence that forced most of the first-half play to unfold on Dundee’s side of the halfway line.

Not that their territorial advantage had Dundee in any desperate trouble. Despite a couple of speculative efforts by Jarkko Wiss and Alen Orman, the Bosnian who has been called into Austria’s national squad, the most demanding test for Speroni in those opening 45 minutes emanated from an unlikely source.

Yannick Zambernardi, the defender who has given balance to Hibs’ back three, demonstrated impressive belief in his abilities when he stepped no more than a couple of yards out of the centre circle and wafted in a lazy lob that forced Speroni to tip over the bar. The backtracking goalkeeper, who rose from the turf nursing a sore arm, had doubtless damaged his pride into the bargain.

It was by altogether more orthodox means that Hibs extended their lead shortly after the interval. When Luna failed to make the most of Paatelainen’s flick, the big striker charged down the loose ball and earned his team a dubious penalty by inviting Dave Mackay’s innocuous challenge.

Although O’Neil had been given responsibility for spot-kicks, it was the Finn who found the bottom left-hand corner.

Williamson complained last Sunday about the extent to which referees are swayed by the home crowd at Ibrox, but it was he, the host manager, who benefited from a controversial decision on this occasion. "It certainly looked a soft one to me," said Duffy. "Maybe we should ask Bobby since he is an expert on penalties."

Needless to say, Hibs’ manager was not about to champion the visitors this time round. After two consecutive defeats, he was willing to accept the three points under any circumstances, even though they made hard work of it.

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