[ritchiebaby]

A welcome break from the stuttering Championship campaign awaits Hibs this weekend with a home tie against Arbroath on Saturday. Hibs have been fairly decent in their play recently, but as we all know by now Hibs just cannot finish "lesser" teams off in games, despite having most of the play and chances. It's resulted in missing the chance to put Rangers under pressure in 2nd place on numerous occasions. We've been our own worst enemy for too long and perhaps a break from the rigours of the Championship will change our mind-set.

Don't think that Arbroath will be like lambs to the slaughter on Saturday, though. They are currently leading League Two, having scored 49 goals in 22 games. Leading scorer Simon Murray has 15 of these goals so far and the club have re-signed Canadian midfielder Dylan Carreiro, who scored 5 goals in 11 games at the end of last season for them. They have stuttered a little in recent weeks with 3 draws and a defeat since the turn of the year. Mind you, they will still see the chance of a potential upset at Easter Road, so there must be no complacency from the Hibs team.

With all the comings and goings at Easter Road in the last few weeks, Hibs could have three or four of the new players in action. Tomas Cerny must be in with a great chance to replace Mark Oxley, as we need a keeper who will command his 6-yard box and Fraser Fyvie should get a game in midfield. My Hibs team would be:-

Cerny,
Watson, Fontaine, Hanlon, Stevenson,
Fyvie, McGeouch, Robertson, Allan,
Boyle, Malonga.

Used substitutes - Stanton, Cummings, Dja Djedje.

PS - Andrew Dallas, in common with the other Scottish Cup referees, will use the vanishing spray at Easter Road, so let's trust that the valuable training sessions in La Manga, Spain   will have helped them overcome the obvious difficulties in using a spray can. Perhaps some of the wee neds that frequent our football clubs could have shown them how to do in the cold of Scotland, thereby saving time and money for our officials.  

[ritchiebaby]

It seems that Malonga, suspended after being sent off in the previous tie against Alloa, and Watson and Boyle, both cup-tied with Dundee United and Dundee respectively, will be absent against Arbroath. However David Gray might be ready to return on Saturday, less than a month after his groin operation.

All being well, I'd have Gray in place of Watson with Cummings and Dja Djedje in attack. That'll leave the subs bench a bit barer, but that team should still see off Arbroath. We still have Stanton and Handling available, as well as young Lewis Allan. Defensively there's Forster and Craig will also be there or thereabouts.

GGTTH

[ritchiebaby]

Well, the usual "the good, the bad and the ugly" from Hibs who eventually overcame a spirited, troublesome Arbroath side by 3 goals to 1.

NEGATIVES - Oxley retained his place and didn't have that much to do, should have done better at the Arbroath goal by standing up to make the target more difficult to hit, had one good second-half save from Simon Murray, but, to me, has a disconcerting habit of coming 25 yards out of his goal when Hibs are attacking. He'll be caught out one of these days. Craig got a start, but I really don't know why. He was rubbish earlier in the season and he was rubbish yesterday, the prime example being when "chasing" a through ball on the left in the first half, he allowed the defender far too much leeway to let the ball run over the line. No pressuring the defender, no attempting to get the ball. I'm 65 and I could at least have put the defender under a bit of pressure! And one for Stubbs - why does full-back Gray take up position as a right-winger and then doesn't get the ball played out to him (notably in the first half)? When we lose possession, he is 40 yards out of position.

POSITIVES - We're in the next round. Both Dja Djedje - nice cool finish for his goal and had a goal disallowed for a foul on the keeper - and Fyvie looked off the pace early on, but came on to better games as the game wore on. Scott Allan played well as usual, hit the post in the first half, won MOM but again was substituted, and there's definitely something amiss somewhere. Too much throwing his arms in the air in exasperation when things go wrong, but I'll easily forgive him that - I felt like that too on numerous occasions. Personally my MOM would have been McGeouch, who came on for Craig, and that made a big difference in attitude from Hibs, much more direct play rewarded with a fine goal. Fontaine and Hanlon had their occasional lapses, but generally did well against the Arbroath front men - I especially liked their No 9, Paul McManus, a sprightly nuisance all afternoon. Gray and Stevenson, who was captain for the day on his 250th appearance for Hibs, did well, as did Robertson and Cummings.

All in all, a comfortable win in the end, but not before a decent Arbroath side made life difficult in the first hour. Now for the quarter-final draw on Monday.

[Lord Snooty]

Who do we fancy next then, Ritchie?

[ritchiebaby]

Rangers was my first choice, but unfortunately,   . In truth, anyone at Easter Road.

There will be only 3 Premiership teams, 4 from the Championship and 1 from at least 2 leagues below us. At this stage everybody in the draw will think they have a great chance of progressing.

[Lord Snooty]

This has to be the year then. How long is it now?

[ritchiebaby]

It's getting shorter as I get older!    As for the Cup, it was way, way back. It's always next year, but next year never comes.