Hibs are still waiting to spark into life

HIBS haven’t beaten anyone since the away League Cup win against Livingston back in August and have fallen out of the top six—it’s been a frustrating few weeks for fans of Edinburgh’s green and white.

However, David Gray’s Hibs team is not the weak shambles that was the sides of Montgomery, Maloney or Johnson. In the league there’s been five draws, one defeat and one victory—once the Hibees start scoring again all will surely be well. Perhaps the team’s recent mediocrity can be ascribed to an emotional hangover from their heroic run in the European qualifiers?

Back on September 13, the Hibees hosted Dundee United in the league and wore their superb new 150th anniversary kit, which is a modern take on the club’s old green and white hooped strip from the 1870s. It’s been lapped up by the fans and will surely become the best selling Hibs kit of all time, unless, of course, next year the club release a new run of the 2016 Scottish Cup winning kit.

The match against United was a great advert for the Scottish game and finished 3-3 —Hibs’ goals coming from Jamie McGrath, Kieron Bowie and an OG by the Terrors.

Next up, the Hibees travelled to a half-empty Ibrox to take on Rangers in the League Cup quarter finals. The fans expected big things from Hibs in this tie. Rangers had been poor in recent matches and were under something of a cloud, while Hibs were in decent form. However, Hibs lost the match 2-0 and put in a somewhat tepid and weak performance, not helped by having a perfectly good Martin Boyle goal chopped off.

Hibernian will have a chance for revenge very soon when the two sides meet at Easter Road under the floodlights for a midweek league match. Unbelievably, Hibs haven’t beaten a Rangers side in the top-flight home match since 2006. Hibs fans will hope that Sir David can lay that embarrassing hoodoo to rest.

Then came a trip to Grangemouth to take on Falkirk, in a rearranged match. McGrath and Boyle had the Hibees 2-0 up and seemingly on easy street. The Bairns looked shambolic for much of the first-half, yet the Premiership new boys dug deep and managed to claw the match back to 2-2, to the despair of the travelling Hibs support. In the end, Hibs were lucky to escape with a draw. It should be noted that Falkirk are no mugs and recently drew with Rangers, too.

Hibs haven’t beaten Celtic at Parkhead since 2010 but with the champions currently not firing on all cylinders, the Hibees had a chance to break that hoodoo on September 27. The green jerseys pretty much shut up shop in Glasgow and set out to frustrate their opponents. It was by no means pretty but it worked superbly, Gray’s men coming away with a credible 0-0 draw. Although a good result, one wonders if Hibs might have won both of their two recent matches in Glasgow, had they played a more attacking style of football—both Rangers and Celtic were there for the taking.

Then came the season’s first Edinburgh derby. A packed Tynecastle, an evening kick-off and a Hearts side currently top of the league—all the perfect ingredients for a fantastic match. Instead, fans of both sides were treated to a brutal encounter, with both sides appearing scared to lose. Hearts edged the match 1-0 with an injury-time winner and that was that. The Hibees seemed content to hit on the break via Boyle but Derek McInnes saw that coming and was ready for it.

So, Hibs are hard to beat but are also finding wins hard to come by, and yet, things still look promising down Easter Road way. Raphael Sallinger is a much better goalie than his predecessor—a far more commanding presence. Grant Hanley has been a solid workhorse at the back and is a great addition to the squad. McGrath oozes class. Once the strikers get their act together and start scoring again, Hibs will be back in the top four. Hibs fans wait with bated breath, praying that their heroes can reproduce their European form in the SPFL.

Everyone at The Irish Voice expresses their sadness at the passing of well-known Hibs fan and post-match blogger, Mark Strachan, who passed away this week. The Hibs community has lost a great Hibernian, and we offer our heartfelt condolences to Mark’s family.