ICT V HIBS -21/01 - matchday thread -

[Dmacca]

Great result today, pedicted a draw here how wrong can u be, lets hope the team can carry this on next week.

                                    :022:

[Kind of Blue]

A superb result today and a great team performance, everybody played their part and fought and chased every ball which made it very hard for Hibs to play.  I was very pleased with Fraser's performance and I hope he continues in this way for the rest of the season.

[davieB]

The first half was the best football I've seen from us this season, though helped by a team who obviously believed in playing from the back. The trouble for Hibs is.....they don't have defenders capable of playing that way! . Absolutely superb. Second half we inevitably stepped off the pace a bit but we could've still added to our tally. To be honest, I wanted us to go and and complete stuff them, but that's just me being greedy....3-0 will do :001:

To be honest any one of our team could've got MOTM. Fraser comfortably did everything he was asked to, the whole defence were brilliant. Rankin had his best game yet IMO, he was tackling like a demon, and getting forward at every opportunity. Duncan was constantly breaking up the Hibees play, and up front Dargs and Wyness combined superbly, and constantly harried their defence. The only downside was Craigs injury, hope it's a quick recovery for the wee man.

A mention on Blackie. He was brilliant when he came on, looked like he had something to prove. There were one or two occasions where incidents that he'd have previously reacted too got a 'walk away' reaction :025: :025: Lets hope he really has learnt his lesson, because when he puts his mind on the football rather than the antics then he's a class player.

Oh....and is Scott Brown the most overated footballer in Scotland? I've never been impressed with him against us, and today he was utter pish. How the **** can they be talking millions for him???

[monthecaley]

any reports on paatelainen?

[The Mantis]

Oh....and is Scott Brown the most overated footballer in Scotland? I've never been impressed with him against us, and today he was utter pish. How the **** can they be talking millions for him???

To be fair I thought he was outstanding when they beat us at Easter Road. All the Hibbies at my work want rid of him and Thomson as their minds are elsewhere.

[Yngwie]

Sounds like we played well and it was certainly a great result.

However, let's not forget that Hibs were tired after a cup tie on Thursday and fielded a weakened side as a result.

[EWS]

A win is still a win.

Remember how many games we had to play over the Christmas period and how we came out of that very well.

[tm4tj]

Take absolutely nothing away from our performance, that was real top drawer stuff, especially in the first half.

DavieB, this was the last thread I read today and you are the only poster who picked up on Blackie. I thought he was tremendous when he came on for his cameo role. He looked as though he was taking the urine out of the Leithers. This boy has got the lot, that wee bit of arrogance that we hate in other players, he totally miffed off the Hibbee players when he came on, well done that lad.

Superb display, we were smokin, took Hibs apart, one of the most feared striking machines in Scotland were reduced to ........well.........erm............nothing. Like the Killie game in the first half, but defensively much better. Second half we just sat on it, and why not, even then, we still looked most likely to ad to our tally. Mike Fraser looked soooo cool, Mr unflappable, he could not have wished for a more comfortable game to kick off with, thank you ICT defenders, who were all immense. Spacial mention for Rossco who was better than anything you see on the telly, he ran the show in the first half, creating goals and having a pop himself, brilliant. Wyness never wasted anything, Dargo was a thorn in the giants flesh, the invisible man appeared, and scored......who said there is no end product :hiding03: Absolutely fabulous display, probably the best first half in the history of ICT. Hibs were a shadow, but that is not our problem. Thyey can make all the excuses they want, but the bottom line is we ferkin stuffed them good and proper. No failures today........Markus, he looks to have a good touch, not on for long enough to form an opinion, but he seemed eager enough to want the ball and get involved, I'm sure he will be another shrewd ICT investment.

[RossP]

Had to laugh at this comment on Hibs.net

think the thing about caley is that because they are a physical slow playing side it counteracts with our talents and they stop us from playing football

[beachcomber]

The last few games I've been to (Rangers, St Mirren, Hibs) I have seen ICT playing their best football ever. full stop.

[Harry Chibber]

22 January 2007

INVERNESS CT 3 HIBERNIAN 0

Life is just like watching Hibs ... you never know what you're going to get

By Neil Cameron

INVERNESS CALEY THISTLE yesterday handed out a brutal lesson in passing and finishing to Hibs in exactly the same manner as the men from Edinburgh are capable of doing to opponents.

And at the same time John Collins' defence reminded us why his undoubtedly talented side are nowhere near the top of the SPL.

The Highlanders were quite sensational and had the game wrapped up at half-time with a 3-0 lead few could have begrudged them. Hibs looked light up front and at the back they were utterly hopeless after what had been a great week for them.

As Forrest Gump might have said if he had been born in Leith, life is like watching Hibs. You never know what you're going to get.

Fantastic at times they may be but when they are bad they really do stink and Caley Thistle took full advantage of their off day. It was a bitterly cold day in the Highland capital. Only the players and officials wore less than 10 layers, although Benji once again squeezed himself into that cat suit. With snow on the nearby mountains and the temperatures close to freezing, it's hard to comprehend that Elton John will be playing a concert here in July.

Unlike Sir Elton, Caley Thistle are not known for splashing out money left, right and centre.

That's why they could do little to stop Mark Brown from moving to Celtic in the week.

So young Michael Fraser started what he hopes will be a new era for him as a first-team player. He was solid throughout.

Hibs boss Collins put Ivan Sproule back on the bench. He is a fantastic weapon to bring on later in a game but his side do look better when the Northern Irishman is in it.

Michael Stewart had recovered from the sickness which made him throw up on the pitch in the Scottish Cup clash with Aberdeen.

Ross Campbell, another of Hibs' seemingly endless production line of young talent, began up front.

The first piece of action came after seven minutes when the home side were an inch away from an opener.

Steven Whittaker got himself in a **** of a tangle on the right side of the Hibs defence and allowed John Rankin to nick the ball from him and make his way into the box.

His low cross was aimed for Dennis Wyness who just missed, the ball made its way to Barry Wilson who hit his shot along the ground first time, only for Hibs keeper Andy McNeil to get back and make the save at the second attempt, just as it was about to crawl over the line.

McNeil was in action again a few minutes later when he spilled another Wilson shot and had Chris Hogg to thank for putting off Craig Dargo as he pounced on the rebound which he put well past.

Hibs needed to do something to get going and they did in 12 minutes after passing the ball about for what seemed like an age.

The move ended with Hogg, Steven Whittaker and Guillaume Beuzelin combining and the Frenchman sent Benji clear on goal with a sublime touch.

The forward should have crossed for young Campbell but elected for as shot which was blocked.

Hibs'defence started to creak in 20 minutes when Beuzelin dallied on the ball, allowing Russell Duncan to dispossess him just outside the box. The ball fell to Rankin who managed to get it on his left foot but skied his shot.

Collins' men got away it that. Two minutes later they weren't so fortunate.

This time it was the captain, Rob Jones, who kept the ball at his feet for the length of an ice age instead of getting rid of the thing when he was just outside his own penalty area.

That allowed Wyness to block his clearance and the ball landed kindly for Dargo.

And the in-form striker didn't need a second touch and his right foot poked the ball past McNeil.

On the half-hour mark it was 2-0. Again Hibs didn't clear their lines and this time David Murphy was guilty of making a hash of booting the ball up the pitch.

It hit off Ross Tokely, the ball fell to Roy McBain and his first-time chip from 18 yards deceived McNeil and dipped just below the bar.

Every cross into the box had Hibs in a flap. Indeed, every time Inverness mounted an attack they looked like scoring, which they did again just before the break.

This time it was all about the skill of Wilson, rather than any defensive mistake. He collected the ball 25 yards from goal, slightly to the right of the box, looked up and then sent a superb dipping shot past McNeil and crashing into the net.

It was no surprise Collins made changes at half-time and in fact he used all that were available to him. Sproule, Steven Fletcher and Lewis Stevenson replaced Campbell, Buezelin and Kevin Thomson.

The Hibs manager had got his team selection wrong this time and he knew it. Hibs did look better - they couldn't have been any worse - but Caley Thistle continued where they left off.

They passed accurately and quickly, played one-twos for fun and were solid in midfield where the hardly lost a challenge.

It took Hibs 20 minutes of the second period to register any sort of decent effort on goal when Fletcher's free-kick beat the Inverness wall but was half a yard too wide. They needed to do a lot more than that if they were to have any chance of saving the game.

Inverness almost made it 4-0 in 67 minutes when Rankin's run and cross from the right had Hogg in all sorts of trouble. His clearance went straight to Wyness and the Hibs man was lucky to get his face in the way of the striker's shot.

Charlie Christie's only black mark was watching Dargo gingerly come off with what looked like a shoulder injury. Graham Bayne took his place.

Roddy Black came on for the excellent Duncan, just pipped as man of the match by the excellent McBain, with 10 minutes remaining.

Hibs captain Jones joined teammate Scottt Brown in referee William Collum's book for a high boot on Wilson. It was one of the few times a Hibs defender got close to an opponent all day.

Wilson then went off so Markus Paatelainen could make his debut. He should know that it's not like this every week.

As far as Hibs are concerned, you never know what they are going to be like from day to day.

Was actually not a bad read until I got to "Roddy Black"  :015: :015: :015:

[mainstander]

Just logged in to this thread. I see the usual outburst of unrestrained optimism from Clacher H2 just before kick off.

[Harry Chibber]

our midfield looks weak compared to theres, could be a backs to the wall afternoon if we sit as deep as usual.  cant see dargo and wyness defending from the front so they will sit well forward and have as much room as they like, need munro and dods to be on their game

id take a draw right now

:015: :015: :015:

o'ye of little faith

[Guest Spectre]

"Was actually not a bad read until I got to Roddy Black"

As Roddy managed to play for 23 minutes without picking up a card or two lets hope he keep playing

[Kingsmills]

Thank goodness we managed to swap Ian for his namesake Roddy, Roddy sounds like a much more level headed individual.

Seriously, great result. If we can play against Celtic the way we did in the first half we can certainly provide them with a real test.