Santa comes again and again and again

Hey Hey, Merry Christmas one and all!

Santa came a second time this year, after his Christmas day exertions he found the strength to visit us on boxing day at Tynecastle to serve us up a crazy, dramatic, 3 - 2 of a storming game of football - i loved it.

Coming into this game Hearts had a nowadays very creditable victory away to Dundee Utd under their belts and Hibs had a stupendous tanking of St Mirren to bolster their confidence levels. So both teams had good cause to feel that this game was there for the taking.

The supporters on both sides of the Boundary Bar certainly thought that way as the atmosphere on the run up to kick off was electric, full of expectation and excitement.

The game then started at lightning pace , with first the Hearts defence in disarray as a Hibs attack in the first minute was not dealt with well and the ball spun free to Abdessalam Benjelloun (Benji), he really should have done better but it was maybe just too early for him, he took the shot with his right foot when his left was the obvious option and the ball spun a foot or two wide of the mark. The Hearts defence looked troubled, as ever the back four had been changed again, Robbie Nielson out and Nerijus Baresa back in and Takis Fyssas replaced by Jose Goncalves. Failure to clear lines under some pressure from Hibs attack led to that chance and may well have led to more, so it was prudent of Hearts to remember that they were also in the game to score as well as stop the other side from doing so. This they done with their first attack of the match after just a few minutes. A decent ball clipped forward into the path of Roman Bednar on the right side of the penalty box was cut back well for Hartley to scream onto and slam the ball home. Found out later that there were big cries for an offside decision against Bednar.

HMFC 1

Hibs 0

A pretty shocked, but wholeheartedly delighted Tynecastle faithfull lifted the roof from three quarters of the stadium, and lifted the lid off this match. The game moved rapidly into hyperdrive, with tackles flying in from all sides, and controlled football at a premium the game was hugely exciting but definitely not for the purest. By 15 minutes in it was pretty clear that somebody was going to walk today, the only surprise being that it took to well into the second half before the hammer fell. No that is not the only surprise, the manner of the sending of was also a major surprise, more of that later.

Whilst both midfields were tearing around the park, at 100 miles an hour, I guess you would argue that Hibs midfield when on the ball were looking the superior outfit. Hibs do move off the ball well and they are happy to play passes through with either feet. Hearts style is a touch more direct, prefering to play a longer ball to the front two who then try to bring the midfield into play. These comparisons however pale into insignificance when the panic that could befall either defence is brought into focus. For a period in the first half the Hibs defence seemed incapable of completing a pass to or from their long suffering keeper. The perpetual goading from the Hearts crowd at this mallaise was wonderfully cruel. As the game took it's second major twist this was to reach a whole other level of cruelty - professional sadism on a mass scale.

The argument goes that Hibs are the best footballing team in Scotland at the moment. This has been argued now for an annoyingly long time and what does it mean anyroads. Thats best footballing team as opposed to best football team the best football team being the one that wins the league ofcourse. The best footballing team is the one that can deliver an exciting and impressive display of footballing skill and guile and flair, the team who can play brilliantly and give teams a sound thrashing at times but which ultimately fails at vital hurdles and in the final analysis flatters to deceive - well if Hibs want to lay claim to that title they are welcome to it. The better football team will always finish above the better footballing team every time.

I am not sure i agree with it anyway, looks to me like Hibs success for what it is is as much down to a good old fashioned pressing game which i have to say is mighty impressive from what i have seen. That pressing game folks is exactly the tactic employed by the Hearts midfield today and it too was mighty impressive. For the remainder of the first half Hibs were limited to a fortunate bounce that allowed Chris Killin straight through on goal, 12 yards out with Craig Gordon rushing out, Gordon made himself big and the ball was knocked wide, when it looked like the equaliser was a certainty. I would like to put that down to great goal keeping.

Whilst Hibs were limited in attack to just those two opportunities, Hearts were not exactly peppering the opposite end. A shot screamed aross the Hibs goal with Jankauskas already pulled back for offside, still he should have buried it. A number of shots hide and or wide of the mark and a few corners were as close as Hearts came to extending their lead in the opening half.

Many weird dramas in that first half, one to note was the full on volley to the dogs preverbials that Paul Hartley took, 3 seconds later as he was just scrambing to his feet he got passed the ball from Salius Mikoliunas with three Hibs players bearing down on him. I could smell the fear! He done really well to collapse under pressure and get the foul.

Half Time

HMFC 1

Hibs 0

Half time stand about is always more pleasurable when you are a goal to the good but the half time entertainment which i have actively avoided this year from them first couple of games ( is it still that stupid try to score through the big advert for a taxi company or whatever? ) was well received by the crowd. Some old Jambo favourites - Jimmy Sandison and Jose Quitongo were playing the game and you do shoot at the Hibs end so maybe thats why the cheers were louder than usual.

Second half started much as the first ended.

Then.

Looked awfully like Santa visited us again, this time in the shape of Zibi Malkowski the Hibernian goal keeper, as he cost Hibs the second goal with a dreadful fumble from a free kick that allowed Edgaras Jankauskas to sneak in.

During the warm up before the start of the second half i noticed Malkowski stretching, doing the splits etc like a proper gymnast it was. Very impressive, he really should concentrate on his hands though, being able to do the splits really is not that useful in goal.

Que the sadistic taunts from the Hearts end, which at this point surrounded Malkowski.

The poignant ballad.. Zibi is a Jambo, Zibi is a Jambo.

Followed immediately and at 5 million decibels by the anthemic ..We love you Zibi, oh yes we do, we love you Zibi, oh yes we do.

The poor man, but he should not worry too much though his time as Hibs goalkeeper will soon come to an end.

HMFC 2

Hibs 0

Now then it is pretty much unforgiveable to through away a 2 goal lead, the team who have managed to attain their lead should really go on to control the game, run it down and frustrate the opposition. Hearts are dysfunctional though are they not, they proceeded to allow Hibs a lifeline back into the game with a poorly defended corner which allowed Chris Killin in unmarked to bring the deficit back to the single score.

HMFC 2

Hibs 1

The crazy panic in defense this time rooted itself in the minds of the Hearts back 4 and with their tails up Hibs seized control of the midfield and pressed hard.

Hearts found it almost impossible to clear the ball any further than 20 yards upfield and if they did it would be picked up by The Hibs defensive line and sent straight back down the throat of the Jambos. Mikoliunas sent what was probably his best through ball into the box, trouble was it was meant as a pass back to Gordon and resulted in a completely needless corner.

Another failure to just get rid of the ball was picked up by Hibs and a good ball put through the inside left channel, Baresa was turned and the penalty if a little soft looked inevitable.

The Penalty was dispatched well into the bottom right corner with Gordon going to his right.

HMFC 2

Hibs 2

Then Santa returned once again this time in the guise of Dean Shields the penalty taker who got himself sent off for accosting Craig Gordon immediately after equalising from the spot - Absolute bonkers, just a complete mental case, no doubt Iron John Collins will have some words for the lad, he certainly deserves it. From the touchline JC looked as though he wanted to give him a cuff round the ear for his madness.

So with Hibs down to ten men you would expect the superior numbers to tell in the end and Hearts could finally take control of the game. I could not tell though that Hibs were the team with diminished numbers, as they worked extra hard to continue their revival in the game.

For the most part Hearts were not firing on all cylinders, runs were made but the pass was not or vice versa. The single diversion from this frustration resulted in the winning goal, a run down the left was cut back missing everyone except Mikoliunas 16 yards out. He took his shot really well and clipped the ball into the top right corner leaving Malkowski, this time with no chance of being blamed.

HMFC 3

Hibs 2

Hibs continued to belie their numbers and fight hard for what they must have thought was a deserved point from the game. Was not to be though and if Hearts had been closer to their best they would have picked them off on the break.

As a final point, it was me who coined Hearts as the dysfunctional team, in the last entry but lets look at the evidence on this one -

Who are the team with the seriously dysfunctional goalkeeper and the outrageous lack of internal discipline which sees their penalty taker who has just equalised attack the opposition keeper. A player who was then subjected to a similar accostment by his manager as he left the field off play.

Who are the dysfunctional adolescents this week.