Leonard

Arnott, Elder (Fyffe), Tunbridge, Walker (Talbot)

Gregory (Keong), Harvey, Spackman (Azahar), Corner, Fayers

Wolff

A disappointing flat performance from Hibs. The Dempsey pitch was hard and a bit bumpy which made it difficult to play a short passing game.

The first half in particular, both sides were flat and lacked any real ability to provide a cutting edge. It was three mistakes that handed the Germans the game and the 3 points.

First goal, we gave away possession cheaply in the middle of the park (again) and then the German player was allowed to easily cut inside the Hibs defender to coolly slot a pass for his striking partner to dispatch the ball home from close range. Fair play to the strikers, it was a well taken goal from the Germans. The Germans had the better of the first half and so the Hibs got a deserved bollocking from Tunners at half-time in an effort to raise the work-rate. Half-time: Germans 1 Hibs 0

We went for a more attacking formation in the second half and shifted Adib up front and sent on Andrew ‘Brian’ Talbot in lieu of James Walker, who was playing his last game before heading back to live in Sydney. The second half started badly with our keeper’s tame pass hitting a German player’s body instead of finding our defender. The ball fell to the German’s feet and the ball was neatly lobbed over our keeper who was stranded off his line. Two nil down.

The second goal seemed to belatedly wake up the Hibs from their slumber and so followed 30 mins of good pressure, however the Germans defended resolutely and strongly snuffed out any of the promising moves created by the Hibs. It was going to take a good move and a moment of magic to score and Adib provided that something special. Hibs at last strung some good quick passes together and Adib ran through the Germans defense and slotted it home with aplomb. At 2-1 it was GAME ON and Hibs pressed forward with renewed confidence and were looking eagerly for the equalizer.

Turning point(s) of the game were the “bottling” of two VERY good shouts for handball in the penalty area, one of which in particular was a clear-cut hand-ball. Then five minutes later an exact replica hand-ball situation occurred just OUTSIDE the area and this time the hand-ball was given. WTF??? If the 3^rd hand-ball incident was a hand-ball then the previous two certainly were. It is disappointing when referees “bottle” these types of decisions. The referee was clearly inexperienced in Cosmo League games as he didn’t know he had to (or how to) fill in the team sheet after the game and had to be guided by Brad, his assistant referee. I just hope he has the confidence in himself to give the correct decisions in future games.

So Hibs continued to press forward and ANOTHER mistake got punished when our two centre-backs went for the same header and allowed their striker to finished in style. The game fizzled out for the remainder of the game and the Germans got a deserved win and got their revenge for two Hibs wins in our 2 previous Cosmo League encounters. Thanks to the Germans for a fair and well-contested game again and the best of luck to them for the remainder of this season.

For Hibs it is back to the drawing board. 4/10. Must do better. Fingers crossed that injuries to Spackers and Adib are not too serious.