Nerves? What nerves? You must be imagining things. Or remembering things …
At a venue where Hibs have so much painful recent history, David Gray’s men may well consider themselves unlucky not to have claimed just a second league victory of the season, such was their second-half dominance of hosts Ross County. But a point is no disaster. Not in the context of everything else that happened tonight.
The draw was enough to lift the visitors off the foot of the Scottish Premiership. The fact that their triumph saw Hearts slip into the bottom s pot was just a bonus for the 488 travelling fans who made the long trip north.
So, sure, there might have been a couple of scary moments in the closing stages here. But Hibs were the stronger team right until the final whistle. And, with a clean sheet to show for their efforts, can feel like they’ve taken at least a couple of baby steps in the right direction.
Late goals haven’t merely been a recent theme of Hibs games, of course. In this particular fixture, in his specific corner of Scotland, they’ve been something of a curse.
Twice, last season, Hibs were robbed of points by late, late County goals, the Staggies scoring at the death in March’s 2-2 draw AND May’s 2-1 home win. Bad things happen in Dingwall.
Hibs didn’t exactly start like a team desperately intent on busting Highland hoodoos, more than playing their part in a first half low on entertainment, enterprise and incident. The visitors created next to nothing, with a Junior Hoilett effort into the side netting and a Jordan Obita strike well held by Ross Laidlaw the sum total of their efforts.
County? Their 3-5-2 is all about getting balls in the box. And they did that here, using the height and strength of Jordan White.
The home side came closest to scoring before the break, centre-half Kacper Lopata rising to send a powerful header goalwards from all of 10 yards. But he found Josef Bursik equal to his effort, the goalie – under fire for some less than convincing performances of late – making a brilliant save as he stuck out a big let hand to divert the ball away.
Elie Youan began to show a few flashes of his old menace early in the second half, sending one shot over the bar and setting up Mykola Kuharevich for a similarly off-target effort with a blistering run. Allowing the Frenchman to drift in from his starting position on the left wing, dragging defenders with him and creating space for Hoilett, looked like a smart tactic.
A Hoilett free-kick from the left flank nearly caught everyone out, the ball bouncing just wide, as Hibs cranked up the pressure. Gray threw on both Harry McKirdy and Hyeokkyu Kwon in pursuit of a deserved breakthrough, taking off captain Newell and Hoilett to make way for the fresh legs.
Kuharevich probably should have done better with a free header in a good position, although there wasn’t much pace on the cross. And sub Nicky Cadden probably wants another crack at the left-footer he sent sailing over the bar in injury time. Either of those would have given Gray and his players the win they deserved.
The draw was enough to lift the visitors off the foot of the Scottish Premiership. The fact that their triumph saw Hearts slip into the bottom s pot was just a bonus for the 488 travelling fans who made the long trip north.
13. SUB Hyeokkyu Kwon 5/10
On for Newell with 71 minutes gone, had a couple of half sights on goal without getting shot away. | SNS Group
