[0762]

Pretty usual story when it comes to playing Hearts, we just don't have the killer touch when we are in a position to put the game to bed. Out fans are once again stunned by a Willie Colum decision that killed us off, White took a dive and conned the ref - or is it a case that the fear is just ****e at his job.
We need to refocus quickly because the season still gives us a lot to play for including the very realistic chance to get back into Europe.
GGTTH

What about Madden's role in this shit as well Wattie? This AR, a Rangers man as most of us are well aware btw, has faced Halkett clearly "hauling down" Doidge in an unimpaired view from the Hearts byeline, a distance of about 8 metres!!! At the time, on the bbc coverage, Mikey Stewart tried to dismiss it and then conceded that it was a stonewall pk after looking at the video rerun of the incident and nobody argued with that assessment later on either. Madden didn't miss the incident - HE CHOSE TO IGNORE IT AS DID COLUM WHO WOULD'VE RESPONDED IF MADDEN CONFIRMED THE PK OFFENCE BY HALKETT - F###### OUTRAGEOUS!! Also how did the AR/linesman miss it????? I'm not a great fan of VAR but I've finally conceded that we need this provision in these kinda matches in order to overrrule rank rotten refereeing decisions that have again denigrated a Scot Cup semi-final!!!! This is not the first time that this failing has happened in this particular cup tournament (eg the famous Meekings incident v Celtic in a previous Scot Cup semi-final is a classic example of a triangulation of 3 x SFA ref officials bizarrely all missing a ICT player "arming"/handling a certain goal bound shot from Griffiths on the ICT goal line and avoiding a straight red card and a pk) and it won't be the last unless this kinda mitigating action is finally brokered by the SFA as deployed by other bigger footie authorities who have finally conceded to the failure in identifying poor/wrong ref decisions, very dangerous tackles and cheating/simulation that would've been definitely identified in the White incident with appropriate punishment to follow. As for Hibs pushing to gain a place in Euro footie? I still see this achievement as providing nothing other than watching a few attractive footie matches without progressing to the next group stage. That is a common theme that applies to the fortunes of participating Scot footie clubs outwith Celtic and Rangers and the common factor in Euro footie progress is having dollops of money. In Celtic's case they have more than enough money even though they have incurred a loss of £13m this year for obvious reasons. In Rangers case they have borrowed themselves, and operated profusely, to possible financial oblivion and that predicament will become more apparent in the months ahead - they are not in a "good place" financially and that is the worst kept secret in Scot footie!! I agree that Hibs need to "push on" positively from this point - absolutely!! We are still "in a good place" and in amongst the top four places in the Scot Prem. The Hibs project continues regardless and JR must try to lift spirits in a decent team - one unlucky result does not make Hibs a bad team and the manager must emphasise that fact and also "learn from it". IMO we wanna return quickly to the "big occasions", the ones that matter, and let these players gain more experience that will stand them in good stead for the future. That ambition is what Ron Gordon was talking about earlier in the year and the manager and players need to embrace that vision. Btw I empathise with Bouncinghibees sentiment that Hibs need to effectively "toughen up" but I'd say Hibs have been deploying a "boot room culture" for a while with notable Hibs legends contributing to that change in attitude and belief. The signs are already there that Hibs are doing OK but they will improve further - a case of "patience is a virtue" and we need to "push on" with it although it will take time to come to full fruition. Personally I'd make Ryan Porteous Hibs captain sooner rather than later as part of this new strategy that will definitely "come good" eventually.