THE Hibs way is to do things the difficult way, and their bid to claim a European place at the end of this season is set to be complicated by the emergence of an alarming self-destructive streak.
"We pressed the button that destroyed us," was man
ager Mixu Paatelainen's unusual phraseology. In anybody's language it amounted to the same thing. Hibs are currently their own worst enemy, and will have no-one to blame but themselves should they fail to claim third place. Another solo strike from Dean Shiels on Saturday offered his side the chance to take advantage of Motherwell and Dundee United's draw earlier in the day, but not only was it not accepted, it was thrown away.
The contribution of two second-half substitutes told its own story. For Aberdeen, the hard-working Darren Mackie scored within two minutes of his arrival on the pitch. Colin Nish, who joined the fray soon after for Hibs, lasted only nine minutes before being shown a red card for what must be assumed was dissent towards referee Stuart Dougal. Nish had not even been on the park when the contentious penalty – from which Lee Miller scored the winning goal – was awarded, and yet allowed himself to be infected by the indignation felt by his team-mates.
Paatelainen refused to tip-toe around the main talking points, which were the two red cards shown to Hibs players and the decisive penalty awarded to Aberdeen. All incidents were preventable, and the penalty was all the more regrettable, since it proved Thierry Gatheussi had learnt little from last weekend's encounter against Dundee United at Tannadice. Although the award seemed soft, Gatheussi invited censure when he lifted his hands, as he did with such costly consequences against Mark de Vries six days earlier.
The afternoon had already begun to unravel for Hibs, with Mackie levelling Shiels' opening goal in the 63rd minute. Here again the away side were the authors of their own downfall. A defensive mix-up presented Mackie with the chance to convert after his own persistence had led to the striker dispossessing Martin Canning. Ian Murray stepped in and attempted to clear, but succeeded only in blasting the ball against Mackie, who converted from a tight angle. Murray later contemplated his side's failure to hold onto leads, worryingly concluding it could be because the team are not focused enough.
Creating further problems are the suspensions which will rob Paatelainen of Gatheussi, Nish and also Guillaume Beuzelin against Rangers on Sunday.
"Psychologically we are a little bit weak," claimed Murray. "I think lately we have been losing silly goals, especially when we go ahead. We seem to be focused and determined until we get ourselves ahead, and then we relax."
In the last two games, it has been apparent that Hibs have edged ahead against the run of play. Last week United needed only three minutes to address this situation, while on Saturday Aberdeen were level within ten. It was the events surrounding the winner which really placed a question mark over Hibs' temperament. Gatheussi was penalised for his clumsy challenge on Miller, and the sight of the striker slotting home the award clearly stoked the Frenchman's rage, and within a minute he had again fouled Miller.
Even had Paatelainen been considering replacing his by-now clearly frazzled right-back, there was barely enough time for the thought to form in his head before the player was heading for the tunnel, having earned two yellow cards for dissent.
"I think he was angry at the penalty, and I don't think it was a penalty," said Murray. "His reputation has gone against him a bit from last week. You'll see it on the television – it was never a penalty. But you have to learn you can't change a referee's mind." While it was possible to recognise the reason why Gatheussi suffered a loss of composure the circumstances in which Nish left the park left him with no grounds for mitigation whatsoever.
"Both players should know better," said Paatelainen during what was a more downbeat post-match press conference than the one conducted by Pittodrie assistant manager Jimmy Nicholl, with Jimmy Calderwood abroad on a scouting mission. Someone at the club was issuing the manager with updates on his mobile phone as Aberdeen continued their recovery after the horror of a Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Queen of the South.
The full article contains 765 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
