Match Review: Hibernians FC vs Gaulois Sports Club

• DF Nick Edwards
• DF Jamie Barnes
• ST Daniel Martin
• -- Thorin Duffin
• -- Roger Milburn
• -- Rupert Roberts
• -- Adam Parker
• -- Scott Star
• -- Colin Gray
• -- Luke Liperis

• -- Sakib Noori
• -- Anthony Smith
• -- Gary Corner
• -- Jacob Ball

Getting back on track

After a few weeks of half decent performances with little to show for it, this was a win we badly needed. The start of the match saw Gaulois have a lot of possession at the back, but we did a good job of pressing them, especially when they tried to move the ball forward to their centre mids. This created some of our better opportunities and with the right final ball we might have had more chances. We did get the breakthrough though. It wasn’t pretty. Dan and Max went up to compete a bouncing ball and it broke Dan’s way, giving him a run on goal. That put us one up, and with Hibs keeping up the pressure Gaulois called a time out. Just after the TO Colin got brought down chasing a loose ball in the box. The ref said it would have a penalty but the ball wasn’t at Colin’s feet so he couldn’t give it. The French came very close to an equaliser when Remi, who proved a problem from his left wing spot all game, got to the bye line and flashed a ball across our six yard box. Their striker couldn’t keep it on target though. We had an even better chance when Colin burst through in to their box and cut back for Dan. He found Thorin, who was in so much space he refused to believe he wasn’t offside. By the time he realised what was happening he could only improvise a flick just over the crossbar. Half time gave Clayte a chance to make one of his easier team talks. We looked like we had things under some sort of control for once. We started the second half well too. Jake created a chance for Dan by getting the bye-line and chipping it back toward the penalty spot. Dan’s volley was off target though. The two goal cushion came from a cunning dummy by Lippy. Another ball across the box from the right found Lippy in acres of space with the goal gaping. He took a big swing and made zero contact, opening things up for Dan to float a cross in for Colin, who came up with his third headed goal in four games. The French almost found their way back into it. Remi causing more trouble down the left wing created some room for their striker to get a shot off on goal. It hit Rupert’s arm on the line and a penalty looked the right call. Scott came up with a great save though. We might have had a penalty of our own at the other end. Colin went up for another header in the box and got bundled over. The referee shouted out that he was playing advantage. There wasn’t much on and nothing came of it. The French brought the expected pressure toward the end, but we stayed as tight and saw it through to get the much-needed three points. Overall, it was our best performance of the season so far. Scott was excellent in goal and the defence rarely looked too troubled. But it was Nick and Thorin who set the tone for the pressure we created off the ball. Nick just edges MoM because he didn’t make a massive numpty of himself in front of goal like Thorin. MoM for the French was Remi, who created their best chances.

• Oussama Labib DF
• Francois Bazin MD
• Maxime Galinier --
• Yohann Guilloux --
• Maxime Kleszcz --
• Steve Vilmiaire --
• Matthieu Cencig --
• Philippe Guerrand --
• Ali Fatni --
• Mab Dousen --
• Remi Tache --

• Francois Casimont DF
• Lionel Bastos --
• Philippe Briat --
• Arthur Allonsuis --

Another disappointing performance

This was a must win for OG to build over last week end win over the Nippon and before facing SCC. But his decided otherwise by producing a solid performance and showing us what is looks like to be efficient. Despite both team probably creating equal number of chances, Hibs made the best of theirs at the right time to wrap the 3 points and send us back into the bottom of the table. Game however started well with OG enjoying most of the possession and making the best of this large pitch. We managed to get close but without really create any trouble for Scoot in goal. On the other hand, Dan made the most of their first incursion in the box to give them the lead. We tried to keep composer but went back into shooting at each other mode which did not help. Even though we created 2 big chance by Remi been denied by a good save from Scoot, and Max missing a 6m header that saw it bounce and just go over the bar, we went to help time 1-0 down. Talk was really to keep the pressure high, lower the voice, and keep trying as we did not look that bad to be honest. We felt we could outrun their slow defense but it really never happen. Second half saw a replay of the first. OG enjoying most of the possession but Hibs been the more dangerous on the break leading to a 2 goal after 10min in second half. We kept pushing created a few chances, long range shoots, a miss penalty but it just looked like it was not meant to happen. Hibs closed all the spaces and when one defender was beaten another one was behind to help. Overall a poor result for us along with a bad attitude which we need to fix asap to progress. His showed us what it is like to play as a team today and that is maybe why they got the 3 points. MOM Hibs: Dan. Scored the first goal when we though we had the game under control, and overall managed to keep the ball high on the pitch for the rest of the team to breath. A solid performance. MOM OG: Really hard to give one today... Votes were split over all players by default and some refused to vote. That is the attitude ! Ref: Very average minus performance. (c.f. ref mark for more details). But cherry on the cake, a water break with 13 min to go when Hibs started to look tired ? Either we do one after 22min or we dont.