Hibs debrief: The farce of penalties, Chris Cadden at left-back, former hero in attendance

A look back at Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw with Greenock Morton in the Premier Sports Cup, a match where the Championship club took a bonus point for winning on penalties.

Player of the match

David Marshall made a good save in normal time and another in the shoot-out; Ewan Henderson was the most dangerous attacker and scored the equaliser, and Rocky Bushiri continued a promising Premier Sports Cup group stage with another solid effort. Take your pick. There are no other contenders.

Defining moment

Ryan Porteous blasts his penalty off the top of the crossbar as Hibs miss their first three penalties in the bonus-point shoot-out following a 1-1 draw with Morton. Picture: SNS

Ryan Porteous’ penalty hitting the crossbar and going over after Henderson and Aiden McGeady had already missed from the spot to begin the shoot-out. It may not have had the biggest impact on proceedings, or Hibs’ slim chances of qualification, it just felt like the moment which summed everything up. It was poor. Then it was dreadful. Then it was embarrassing. This is when it became a farce.

Ref watch

Manager Lee Johnson criticised the referee in the aftermath of the game without going into too much detail about what he thought was wrong. The whistler certainly could’ve taken stronger action against some of Morton’s gamesmanship, particularly the time-wasting, though it doesn’t feel like much of a contributing factor in the grand scheme of things. Joe Newell wasn’t happy about the penalty given against him, but he was one of few who bothered to dispute the call.

Benefit of hindsight

Chris Cadden at left-back to begin the match didn’t work out and he was moved there for the second period. If you want to be fair, you could point to the absence of Lewis Stevenson and new signing Marijan Cabraja, who has yet to be registered. If you don’t, you could question why Joe Newell, who has some experience there and is at least left-footed, wasn’t given the job instead. Elias Melkersen at left-midfield for a lot of the opening half was odd also.

Moment you may have missed

Martin Boyle was in attendance at Easter Road to watch his former club and old team-mates in action. It remains startlingly just how much Hibs have fallen off a cliff since his departure. Only eight victories they’ve managed since his last match against Celtic; four of them coming against Cove Rangers, Arbroath, Clyde and Bonnyrigg Rose.

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