Hibs manager Dean Gibson unimpressed by performance despite Scottish Cup progression as injury overshadows result

Hibs progressed to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup with a 4-0 victory over East Fife at the Meadowbank.

Goals from Eilidh Adams, Lia Tweedie, Kirsty Morrison and Katie Lockwood proved to be enough to ensure their name is in the hat for Monday’s draw. Despite the size of the victory, Hibs were frustrated for many periods with manager Dean Gibson believing that his side need to improve against better opponents.

“I don’t want to sound disrespectful to the opposition but I am disappointed with our performance today”, he told the Edinburgh Evening News. “We dropped well below the standards we set but we are in the hat for the next round and that is the most important thing. A level of performance is also important as well. We have let the players know that there was too many individuals on the pitch and we weren’t playing as a team. That was the part that let us down today. We won 4-0, through in the cup, we are obviously delighted with that. However, if we want to compete with the teams above us and continue our good form, we have to forget that performance today.”

Hibs were frustrated in the first half by a stubborn East Fife defence. Adams produced a half-chance in the opening exchanges as her effort nestled into the side netting. Rachael Boyle would be forced off with an injury minutes later off the ball which left a sour taste to all involved. The hosts almost had a bit of luck late on when a cross deflected off an opposition player but the ball ended up the keepers grasp. The opener would finally come for Hibs in added time as the opposing keeper brought down Adams running through for a penalty and the striker made no mistake.

Dean Gibson's side will travel to Tynecastle to face Hearts in their next game. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

The hosts were centimetres away from doubling their lead minutes into the second half when Tweedie smacked a powerful effort off the bar. Moments later her goal would come as her shot deflected off an East Fife player, looping over the goalkeeper into the net. Lockwood should have got the third as she took the all past the keeper but a defender was there to clear the shot of the line. Three would finally come for the hosts as Lockwood headed the ball down for Morrison to tap home. Lockwood soon made it four with an easy finish from six-yards after cross to round off the victory.

Despite progressing, the evening was heavily overshadowed by Boyle’s injury. The game marked the midfielder’s first start in over a year after giving birth to her second child.

“Boyle is not a player that stays down, especially when she goes down screaming”, Gibson added. “We know there is something wrong there, maybe something in her knee. It’s far too early to be talking about ACLs and things like that. She had a little bit of movement in it from what I’ve been told, which probably suggests its not an ACL. Until we get an MRI scan we won’t know the proper answers. I’ve got everything crossed for her because she’s just got herself back on the pitch. If it is a serious injury like that you have probably got another eight to nine months which is just unthinkable for her at the moment.”