Second half collapse

Premiership Hibernian were between Inverness and a place in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup. The last time these sides lifted the Scottish Cup was in 2015 & 2016. We dipped our toes in the final last season losing out to Celtic and Hibs lost out to St Johnstone two years earlier. Neither side are taking their respective League tables by storm, so the break for a Scottish Cup encounter might do both sides some good. We had never beaten Hibs in four Cup encounters, including a replay. Alex Samuel was a major doubt with a fractured hand and was missing along with Danny Devine and Luis Longstaff who twisted his knee in training. Here's what happened this time... Having matched Hibs for almost an hour a massive deflection enabled Maolida to open the scoring. Slack defensive play set Martin Boyle on his way to double Hibs advantage before a late goal set up by Boyle saw Youan tap in. Game over but Aaron Doran notched an injury time consolation for Inverness.

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A North East wind chilled the stadium as kick-off approached but the home support were out in force with a large away crowd also in attendance. A fairly even first half where chances were at a premium with Hibs creating the better opportunites but neither keeper overly troubled. After the interval Hibs eased ahead when a shot from Maolida took a massive deflection to end up high in the net. Tough luck for the hosts but they were the architects of their own downfall at the first and second goals when we failed to clear our lines before Maolida's deflected shot and Boyle scored a second after an attempted clearance by Boyes. Boyle set up Youan for a tap in third. Credit to Aaron Doran for pulling one back with a superb volley but the game was long gone by then. Cammy Kerr hit the top of the crossbar with a looped header at 1-0 but in truth we saw too little action in the opposition box and paid the consequences of that.

FULL TIME: 1-3

From BBC Sport:

Inverness CT manager Duncan Ferguson: "We obviously knew it was going to be a tough game. "There wasn't much in it at half time and then we gave away a couple of poor goals. I was happy with the performance, but it was a mountain to climb after those two goals."

Hibs head coach Nick Montgomery: "It was a comfortable victory in the end. Not an easy place to come, always a difficult cup tie and playing against an underdog. "But I thought the boys executed the game very well and I thought we more than deserved to get through. We created a lot of opportunities at the end, we probably could have had a couple more and I think they had one shot on target and it was a fantastic finish by the boy."

We lost didn't we

Robert on CTO: No complaints from me about the result. Ridgers kept us in it in the first half, although I thought we competed well and deserved the 0-0 score line. The shot for the first goal took a wicked deflection or otherwise Ridgers would have had a comfortable save. McAllister lost possession in the build up after doing the hard work in winning the ball. Boyes was at fault for the second whilst we seemed to switch off a bit expecting a flag for the third but the player who picked the ball up was onside. Doran’s goal was a cracker, but far too little far too late. I’m not sure about the defensive substitutions as the defence was coping well on the whole. I can only guess that Chilokoa-Mullen and Savage are not fully match fit yet as both have been subbed in all three matches they’ve started for us.

@ICTFC v @HibernianFC

A determined defensive performance from the hosts wasn't enough to stop Hibernian from advancing into the Quarter Finals courtesy of second-half goals from Myziane Maolida, Martin Boyle and Elie Youan.#ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/3WAVvVJauw

— Scottish Gas Scottish Cup (@ScottishCup) February 10, 2024

Hibs fans at the Caledonian Stadium>>>

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