Hibs' inability to protect their own goal proved costly at Turf City on Saturday. In fact, they were two yards off the pace all over in the first half and The French took full advantage. The Blues charged through our midfield on the occasions we gave up possession and all too easily ended up with an easy shooting opportunity. Alex will have felt he should have saved the first goal, but maybe he was startled by how much time the striker had in his area. A searching long pass caught the team out for the second and Hibs were up against it. Buffy had an indirect free-kick blocked on the line, but that was about all Hibs could muster and they then conceded a third goal as the ball was given away cheaply and they were punished. Thankfully there was a reaction in the second half. Andrew had two glorious chances, Lippy hit the cross-bar we had a penalty given then taken away and Ous did the admirable thing and scored for us to make it 3-1. Tony and Colin had brilliant chances but fluffed them and then Antoine used his pace to break clear and score a fourth. MOM was Colin and for the opposition, Ous.
Despite struggling to get a strong line up due to a lot of players away we managed to secure the 3 points on Saturday that keep our league table progress on the move. We are now 3 points away from the 4th and Viking in sight when 2 months ago we were vegetating at the bottom of the table. Game did not start well when Remi was replaced for an injury after just 5min. But the team stepped up and actually played even better and manage to score 3 goals well taken by Hugo and Andy x2. A deserved lead at half time. 3-0. When most team would have killed the game early in 2nd half with a 4th, we slowly lost our focus and organisation all around the pitch. The back lines were throwing long balls at the top and the midfield was to often forgotten which lead to Hibs recovering the ball easily and higher. Despite a few alert we did not manage to wake up and Hibs scored a deserved goal on a deflected free kick. It seems that it awake the team just enough to create a few chances and scored the killer one, when Hibs actually had a chance minutes earlier to make it 3-2. Our fourth goal clearly killed their momentum and we finished the game on a free wheel. Clearly Hibs were missing a few players today at the back and Dan Martin upfront who is always a threat. Good for us on the day as we wrap up 3 points that were not given as we had nearly 10 players on Friday. MOM goes to Bastos AGAIN for a clinical work at the back handling Camille positioning and taking the best over their tall Stricker. A few good performances to notice as Andy scored a brace of goal and had an overall good work rate, Antoine for stepping up again as left back, with a positive impact on the game and a nice assist. Good but easy game for the ref as nothing really happen during the game apart from our keeper not willing to put his shield pads :)