The lunchtime rain and cloud cover made conditions less fierce than the previous two weekend’s games. The Hibs happily returned back to their ‘home’ pitch at the PSA Club which had been closed for 2 months for maintenance and upon arrival at the ground it looked to be in superb condition, although the grass was maybe a tad long.

Tunners’ team talk concentrated on getting a fast start and getting our noses ahead early doors and to put some early pressure onto the opposition who lined up with a much younger team than the Dutch team we had played earlier in the season and comprehensively beaten 9-0 back in September.

For the first time in many weeks the Hibs seemed to trust each other with the ball with some crisp good passing moves. Maybe it was the opposition closing us down slower than we are used to or maybe it was spaces generated by the massive PSA pitch, probably a bit of both. Most of the balls were being passed out from the back via Tim Z, Dean, Gary or Geoff and the early attacking play for the first 30 minutes was going down the left flank with Bastian and Tunners seeing most of the earlier action.

Once we got our noses ahead through an Andrew Talbot goal we knew it would be important to not sit on the lead and so we pushed on and were rewarded with more goals from a Danny Wilson header (via a little flick off Bastian’s head), a Gary Corner special and the customary penalty earned and converted by Bastian. So Hibs went into the half-time break happy with the score at 4-0.

Half-time team chat was about retaining the possession as much as possible and making Hollandse chase the ball. Amazingly we did exactly what we’d talked about, with the Dutch not touching the ball for the first 4 or 5 minutes of the 2^nd half. But this is an improved Holland team and they refused to fold and they continued to toil and battle and try to frustrate us. The game also lost some continuity in the second half when the fussy ref got even fussier and the game lost its rhythm due to endless breaks for supposed infringements that both sides failed to comprehend.

By half way through the 2^nd half Hibs effectively killed off the game by keeping a clean sheet and the game lost a lot of its pace. Gary Corner then scored his second of the game, I have no idea how it was scored as I was having sprinting practice on the sidelines with Fyffie’s 2 yr old son. As Brewerkz will not be surprised to read, I lost all of these races ;-)

It was good to see some of the banter and laughter back in the Hibs camp and it was nice to win a game again after a run of 4 defeats. Also good to keep a clean sheet for the first time since October!!

Notable performances from the ever-vocal Burkey; Tim Z distributing sensibly from the back; tidy stuff from Fyffie and Dean; Geoff & Gary continually broke up play and pushed the ball wide neatly. Good work from the wide men Kaydash and Bastian who made use of the space. Intelligent play from Andrew and good carved runs from Danny. Good cameos from McManus, Ryan and Crellin.

But a special mention to Naka who came on for the last 15 minutes, playing in his first Cosmo game since he fractured his fibula and tibula seven months ago and had metal pins installed into his legs. The Dutch singled him out for some punishment and flattened him twice when he came on, which was strange as the game was effectively over at that stage. Anyway, at least Naka knows his leg is up to taking some hard challenges now!!

Thanks to Hollandse for a physically tough game, they are a decent set of lads and it was good to see them stronger and we wish them all the best for the rest of the season. Thanks too to the referees.

For the Hibs we are now looking forward with some renewed confidence to playing the Swiss next week.