Hibs set for a crucial run of matches

TWICE this season, Hibs have faced vulnerable Rangers teams and have twice—inexplicably—rolled over and lost to the Govan side.

Back on October 29, under the lights at Easter Road, it was groundhog day for Hibs again, narrowly losing 1-0 to a very average Gers side, just as they did in the recent League Cup quarter-final at Ibrox.

Hibernian are now without a top flight home league win over a Rangers side in 20 years. That’s simply not acceptable to Hibs fans.

The Hibees would probably be pushing for second place in the table and be in next month’s League Cup Final, were it not for this embarrassing hoodoo—a hoodoo that even Sir David Gray appears unable to shatter. Who’d have bet on that?

Humiliating hoodoos aside, the Cabbage currently sit third in the league table and have been on a good run since the narrow defeat in last month’s Edinburgh Derby, with just two blots on the copysheet, as that great wordsmith, Michael Stewart, might say.

The first blot was the insipid defeat to Rangers, the other appeared on November 1 at Almondvale, when the Hibees were held to a 2-2 draw by Davie Martindale’s Livingston crazy-gang. Martin Boyle and Jamie McGrath got Hibs’ goals that day.

A fortnight earlier, Hibs had utterly destroyed The Lions at Easter Road 4-0, with goals from McGrath, Thibault Klidjé and a late double from the evergreen Junior Hoilett. Hibs followed up that fine win by beating Aberdeen 2-1 up at Pittodrie, thanks to goals by Klidje and Élie Youan.

After the debacles against Rangers and away to Livingston, Gray’s men got back to winning ways with a comprehensive away victory over St Mirren. Chris Cadden, Josh Mulligan and Miguel Chaiwa were on target in that 3-0 victory, in which the Hibees had VAR on their side, for a change.

Hibernian have drawn half of their 12 league matches this season and could easily be

second in the table, were they to somehow reproduce their early season European form on a weekly basis.

Standout players of late have been Mulligan, Grant Hanley and McGrath, though the latter blotted his own copybook with that dreadful penalty miss against Rangers (above). Mulligan looks to be a true star in the making and can play in a variety of positions—like all truly great players.

As I write this, we are in the midst of another annoying international break. Why, oh why can’t we go back to having these fixtures played during the week? Scotland actually did much better when that was the case.

In any case, when real football returns, Gray’s men face seven fixtures before the year’s end, with 21 points up for grabs.

Away matches against Motherwell, Rangers and Dundee United and home games versus Celtic, Falkirk, Hearts and Aberdeen.

Success in this crucial run of matches will set Hibs fans up for a fantastic second half of the season—I mean, imagine if the green jerseys were to persevere and actually win them all?