[ritchiebaby]

Not being one of the high and mighty teams in the Championship, Hibs are due to host Dumbarton this coming Saturday during the international break. The Easter Road form from Hibs continues to be extremely disconcerting, but I suppose we should be used to it by this time. The same teams contested the Scottish League Cup second round tie in August, which resulted in a Hibs victory by 3-2. It will come as no surprise to regular readers that Dumbarton raced into a 2 goal lead early in the second half but Hibs managed to score 3 goals in the last 12 minutes to snatch the win.

There are a few familiar faces at Dumbarton for Hibs fans, the best known being manager Ian Murray and "striker" Colin Nish  - also famous for the chant "He's p***, he's p***, he's Colin Nish" (self-censorship here). Scott Taggart and Scott Linton started their careers in the youth team at Easter Road and full-back David van Zanten played a full season in the first team. Dumbarton are the lowest scorers in the Championship but are unbeaten in their last 5 games.

The enigma that is known as Hibernian FC must have a decent chance to score a few goals on Saturday, but we fans know that doesn't always follow. We seem to have a nucleus of about 15 players with very little else to fall back on. Dominique Malonga had a poor game last weekend, so must be due a good game and Scott Allan missed a sitter and is a bit inconsistent, so gets the chop from my team.

Oxley
Forster, Fontaine, Hanlon
Gray, Sinclair, McGeouch, Kennedy, Stevenson
Cummings, Malonga (so let's all do the conga)

with Stanton, Handling and Harris in reserve as used subs - and long before 10 minutes to go!!!! - if required.

[TIN TIN]

Right Ritchie, WTF went wrong today. Pretty piss poor result following the award winning month for Stubbsy and Cummings. The way forward is what ?

[ritchiebaby]

The usual went wrong today.    60% possession, 25 shots, 14 on target and 0 goals. Apparently we should have had one, when Malonga's penalty kick squirmed under Dumbarton keeper Danny Rogers' body and crossed the line, but was never given. Ian Murray and his Dumbarton players have admitted that it was over the line but the referee didn't see it.    It was a poor kick anyway, so perhaps Malonga should have done better. As is normal at Easter Road, the visiting keeper played a stormer and saved the game for Dumbarton, who have now gone 6 games undefeated.


Dumbarton's Garry Flemming is challenged by Dominique Malonga. Pic: SNS

Just to prove that the EEN have also caught the dreaded ER malaise, see the above photo. It should be obvious to all that the Hibs player is not Malonga because a) Malonga wears No 24 and b) he doesn't have a beard, well, not a real one, just a wee wispy apology for a beard - a bit of bum fluff really.  
PS - No 5 will be Liam Fontaine, who does have a real beard.

TinTin, the way forward is no more awards please. After displays like today, we're quite safe in that department.  

[St Charles Owl]

Wow, just seen how you dominated this game!!! 14 shots on target either means a cracking performance from their keeper or inept strikers!!!!

[ritchiebaby]

Both, SCO.