Hibs were made to look absolute April Fools today by a Motherwell side that dictated play from start to finish and the home side was not helped by some shocking goalkeeping from David Marshall who, in my view, should have done a whole lot better at the three goals we conceded, but more on each of those later. None of the keepers outfield colleagues got pass marks with only Chris Cadden the best of a very poor bunch. I must emphasise that this defeat was totally self inflicted but I just have to mention a stunningly bad performance from referee Graham Grainger. Its the first time Ive seen him and pray it is the last after a display littered with baffling decisions.
Lee Johnson selected his starting eleven to operate in a 3-5-2 formation but from the off it was clear that the visitors had anticipated that and immediately set about putting the Hibs man in possession, under extreme pressure. Essentially, they were hunting in packs and forcing Hibs into errors resulting in them losing/giving away the ball. Any time Marshall played the ball short to a defender, obviously in the hope that Hibs could build from the back, the defender with the ball was quickly under pressure and invariably the lack of movement in front of them meant there was no safe out ball.
Inside the first five minutes, Van Veen had a chance from around fifteen yards but shot straight at Marshall and very soon after that the home defence was struggling to clear the ball and as it fell just outside the box, Doyle-Hayes swung his boot at it but caught Dean Cornelius in the face. Grainger, rightly, awarded a free kick and booked Doyle-Hayes. Marshall lined up his wall but was rooted to the spot when Goss hit his shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar. Now, you could be charitable and say the wall never jumped but from my angle they looked badly placed to cover the side of the goal left open by Marshall.
Still enjoying the bulk of possession, Motherwell continually found space down the flanks, exposing the use of a back three against a side that used its wide men wisely and it was painful to watch as the home side consistently gave up possession through poor use of the ball, slack passing and an inability on occasion to control a ball passed to them. The first glimmer of a chance for Hibs came around the fifteenth minute mark when Josh Campbell flighted in a cross that Kevin Nisbet reached but could only head the ball straight at keeper Kelly.
Van Veen was causing all sorts of problems, cleverly playing on the shoulder of the last man and when a low cross reached him ten yards out he should have done a whole lot better than smashing a shot high over the bar. At the other end, Campbell fed Chris Cadden who cut in from the right and hit a left foot shot but it was just too high and cleared the bar with Kelly watching on anxiously. A succession of fouls by both sides meant there was little by way of flow in the game until the half hour mark when a low driven ball from Casey found Van Veen racing away from his marker. I was stunned when Marshall decided not to come for that ball as he looked to have been favourite if he did but instead, he let Van Veen get a low shot away and watched anxiously with the rest of us as the effort trickled past Marshalls far post. It was around this point that Hibs changed to a 4-4-2 but the effect of doing so was negligible. To be fair to Marshall, he was soon in the right place to deny Van Veen another effort on goal.
Next, we witnessed the bizarre sight of Paul McGinn trying to hit the target from about fifty yards as hed noticed Marshall off his line, but the effort lacked power and the keeper was able to react and collect the ball safely. With half time approaching, Stevenson picked out Hoppe on the edge of the Motherwell box but the striker dallied fractionally and as a result his shot was blocked. Then, a Spittal cross was flicked on at the near post by Mandron, but the ball cleared the bar, and the sides went in at 1-0 to Motherwell although to be brutally honest they might have had two or three of a lead.
With Doyle-Hayes having been booked and in all honestly having a pretty poor game he was replaced for the second half by Harry McKirdy but the first action after the start arrived when Van Veen set up Spittal but the latter steered his shot wide of the target. It was Van Veen himself that had the next attempt on goal and only a last ditch challenge from Cadden stopped the striker from hitting the ball more sweetly.
There was little change in the pattern of the game, regardless of what had been discussed in the home dressing room at half time and before the hour mark, Hibs made a hash of clearing the ball which found its way to Spittal who was in acres of room inside the area. Marshall charged out but never looked favourite to reach the ball first and instead crashed into Spittal to concede a stone wall penalty. Referee Grainger booked the keeper and I thought at the time that Marshall was lucky it was not a red. After a few moments while Spittal was receiving treatment, Van Veen stepped forward and hit a pathetically weak penalty which Marshall should have saved but instead allowed the ball to squirm underneath him and into the net. Moments later, Goss hit a speculative effort from around thirty five yards but this time the keeper was equal to it.
A Kevin Nisbet header flew over the bar after which Nisbet chased down the referee to complain that he had been clearly impeded by a jersey pull but Grainger wasnt interested. Just after the hour mark, Chris Cadden sent in an inviting cross and Kevin Nisbet accepted the invitation by bulleting a header past Kelly to make it 2-1. Substitutes Cabraja, Newell and Kuharevich joined the fray with Stevenson, Egan-Riley and Campbell departing and suddenly, Motherwell started to look a bit nervous as Hibs, lifted by the positive crowd reaction, began a chase for the equaliser. McKirdy was unlucky to see a low right footed drive fly just outside Kellys far post and Motherwell set about committing a series of unpunished fouls to disrupt any rhythm Hibs were trying to create. One foul, when McKirdy was scythed down by Casey failed to result in a booking by the referee, just another bizarre decision by the man in the middle.
With ten minutes left, Ewan Henderson came on to replace Hoppe on the left and Hibs were attacking but lost possession and in trying to arrest the forward movement, Fish bundled Paton over, around twenty or so yards from goal. Marshall set up his wall and then inexplicably took up position to cover the half of the goal his wall had been set to cover. Kevin Van Veen must have thought it was his birthday as he stepped up and struck the ball into the space left vacant by the keeper. It was a shocker from Marshall and in my view indefensible.
With their two goal cushion re-established, Motherwell set about running down the clock as Hibs, for reasons I cannot explain, decided that despite having scored from a cross and despite loading the box with their tallest players, theyd fail miserably to deliver any crosses of note. Referee Grainger finally found his yellow card when Furlong hacked down McKirdy but in truth the same player had fouled repeatedly without earlier punishment. Joe Newell, who had at least tried to push his side on, saw two pretty tame efforts easily saved as the game moved in to six additional minutes. Nisbet and Kuharevich (twice) also had efforts, but Kelly was never truly troubled.
Full credit to Motherwell who deserved the three points but with Hearts losing, Aberdeen and St Mirren winning we not only failed to reduce the points gap on the Tynecastle side but allowed both the Dons and St Mirren to overtake us, meaning we ended the day in sixth place, only one point ahead of Livingston.
No words on the players after such a shocking performance.
Lee Johnson was sitting in the stand and had as good a view as most of what was unfolding in front of him and it wasnt pretty.
Referee Graham Grainger was horrific.
