NO doubt about it, as Hibs headed up to Pittodrie on Saturday to face an Aberdeen side that was under a fair dod of pressure, it was going to take a performance much improved from last weekend if we were to bring anything back home.
Like many Hibs fans this weekend, I watched the entire match courtesy of BBC Alba which is the new Gaelic spoken channel that has secured rights to show certain SPL matches as live just a couple of hours after the final whistle has blown on a Saturda
y night.
It was a bizarre experience although not quite the first time I've watched a match with the commentator speaking absolute gibberish. Mind you I picked up a couple of words, like Agus and Ma ha. I also figured out that the Gaelic for goalkeeper is Mah Calambie.
As far as I was concerned, the Big Belgian was one of the two main differences in the sides – the other being Derek Riordan.
Yves was on hand on nearly half a dozen occasions in the first half alone and although they weren't all saves of the spectacular variety, more importantly, neither were they of the wobbly variety.
Perhaps it's coincidence that he pulls out a performance on the very week that his manager has been making a lot of noise about signing another keeper, but I'm not caring. What we need is a confident pair of hands between the sticks and that's what we had on Saturday. More of the same please, big fellae!
Yves was a busy man and was also involved in a heated exchange with Zander Diamond after the Aberdeen defender tried to gently escort him right into the post. I'm 6'4" and I wouldn't mess with the Hibs keeper as he has hands the size of dinner plates and gives me a crick in the neck when I talk to him.
It took the mighty mouse frame of John Rankin to step in and calm the situation. John must be about three foot smaller than Yves and it looked like he was coolly telling Yves to back off and ignore the situation. Either that or he was telling him to "Follow the Yellow Brick Road", one of the two.
If Yves was important at the back, then Deeks was vital where it mattered, up front. Yes, it was a defensive error that sent him in on goal, but that was a very tight angle and once again proved that he must be one of the best finishers around just now. I don't know if he put Steven Fletcher's nose out of joint by insisting on taking the penalty, but he took it perfectly, and doubled his goal tally for the game.
Add that to his brilliant strike against Hamilton, and he is well and truly paying back his transfer fee and wages.
On the subject of the penalty, much has been made of whether or not Fletcher was offside when he hit the shot which resulted in the hand ball off the line. I'd say that there is certainly room for discussion, but, similarly, I wasn't too convinced about Aberdeen's first half penalty.
Thanks to the technological wonders of my Sky+ box, I watched this over and over a number of times, and I felt the decision was harsh to say the least. I can understand why Sol Bamba protested the way he did. Bamba was facing the ball and that's what he was going for when Lee Miller – who, let's face it, isn't averse to taking the odd tumble – connects with Bamba from behind and they both go down. The more I watched it, the more I thought it could have easily been Hibs that got the free kick, but these things happen and so when Hibs got their controversial spot kick, for me that just evened things up.
So, if you discount both penalties and you're left with Derek's all-important first half strike which piled even more pressure on Jimmy Calderwood and gave Hibs a nice fourth spot in the SPL.
We've all got a weekend off from Hibs coming up as we look to Scotland's World Cup quest and then it's back to Easter Road for a rather tasty derby encounter. I cannae wait!
Glory, Glory!
Mum's the word Paul, OK?I MUST thank the unnamed former Hibs player who donated a signed pair of Scott Brown's boots and Celtic top to Forth One's Radiothon. They fetched £500 for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation and were bought by two listeners who promptly gave them to a wee Celtic fan named Aaron who is in the Sick Kids right now.
The former midfielder who played for Hibs between 1982 and 1991 didn't want to be named so don't worry Paul, your secret's safe with me.
The full article contains 814 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
