First time back at Easter Road for a long long time. Obviously having seen some highlights etc of Hibs this season and not expecting much, especially as I have heard about Montgomery and his 4 2 4, I was firstly surprised to see him going with a 4 3 3 with Levitt , Newell and the new lad Moriah-Welsh in midfield.
My mates had told me about the first half v St Mirren last Saturday so I was expecting a few goals! My thoughts from the evening.........
Never 18000 + inside the ground.......really wish clubs would put up actual attendance and not tickets sold. However those that did turn up seemed to want to get behind the team and there weren't too many dissenting voices.
Hibs played well, especially second half and were very unlucky not to take anything from the game.
Celtic are a shadow of former Tim teams and thought they created very little all evening.Plenty of possession but lacking those killer runs and through balls that in the past have opened up teams for clear chances.
VAR is shite in soccer! If you run it as it is at the moment, especially in Scotland, it needs independent refs watching the replay screens and not just biased officials. In Scotland it only really favours 2 teams and the rest pick up any scraps going. Over the weekend Sportscene showed Hibs v St Mirren highlights where the Hibs defender is pulled up for a handball to give away a penalty by VAR. Last night the Hibs center forward ( Don't know his name, sorry!) squares the ball from the left side of the box where it deflects up onto the Celtics players arm which is certainly not in a natural position ( Ralston?) and goes out for a corner . Extremely similar but guess what......no VAR review.
With Celtics second penalty there is no way if that had been at the other end would VAR have even had a second look at it. Having seen it again I am not even sure that first contact is inside the box. If the first pen had happened in the Celtic box I doubt it would have been given with the same speed as it was last night.......in real time it looked like the usual accidental clash seen so often between a defender and an attacker.
Now I come onto Tom Dal.......sorry Martin Boyle. This lad has certainly got his cards marked now and you would have thought that the Hibs backroom staff would have taken him aside and show him how to win a penalty without taking off into a huge swallow dive. Having watched the incident again from various angles the Celtic boy does make contact with Boyles knee as he is running at pace but he carries on and then throws himself to the floor.......as soon as you feel that first touch Martin go down without the theatrics and you will force VAR to look at it and if your timing is good they would have no option but to give the pen. Some players have the knack to win pens ( watch Harry Kane ) Martin, you certainly haven't !!
Sportscene is shite......not much more to say lol
Thought the Celtic left back looked good and played very well. The Norwich lad, Idah, put in a shift all evening and of course scored the 2 penalties. The big lad who came on at centre forward in the second half for Hibs looked a handful and was unlucky with his overhead shot.
From my time watching Hibs, they nearly always raise their game v the uglies but they now have a huge test in the Highlands on Saturday with the Cup being a huge part of their season not only to keep the fans onside but also to keep Montgomery in a job!
Celtic will carry on in their usual manner getting help from the officials when needed with their only lottery coming when they play the blue half of Glasgow.
oh ps:
Food is still rubbish at Easter Road and no hot water in the toilets in the West Stand. ( we 've got it at Edgar Street so Hibs get it sorted)
Hoping to be at Tynie soon for a Hearts game ( not sure which one yet) so will give my impressions from the maroon side of Edinburgh then.
I watched the last 20 mins after the Hearts game and thought Hibs were the better side and Newell their best player. I don’t think anyone noticed the 2nd penalty due to Kyogo having a shot at goal. It was only after Sky’s repeated replays that you just knew that VAR was going to check and there was only one outcome.
Kebab pies are good at Tynecastle HB