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YC&AC, Sat 4th February. The Geckoes knew this was going to be a tricky fixture against the Hibs. A windy day, a bumpy pitch, a scrapping, mouthy, physical opposition with a point to prove coming off a two week break and the entire Geckoes defence being unavailable due to a number of reasons (none of them believable), thus ensuring that the Geckoes back four included two central midfielders, a right back playing on the left and a debutant on the bench.
Despite this, the Geckoes had started the game strongly, only to fall behind with Hibs first attack of the game. The Hibs went down the wing, pulled the ball back and an unmarked Narama slotted home from 10 yards. The Geckoes then stepped up a gear and for the rest of the half had the Hibs on the back foot. Mikkel Troen made it 1-1 at the half way point of the half after the midfield and forwards linked well in the final third.
Mikkel added a second not long afterwards, after the Geckoes had won possession in midfield. Jonathan then broke forward and shrugged off a couple of tackles before laying it through to Mikkel who cut inside and buried it in the bottom corner from a tight angle. The Geckoes then had a chance to extend the lead when Rob Manager burst (possibly jogged?) into the box only to be bundled over by the stunned Hibs defender. Surprisingly the referee saw nothing wrong with it and allowed play on.
With five minutes remaining the Hibs somehow scored a second and we were all level at half time.
The half time break contained one major message for the Geckoes, more of the same! And that's what they got. The Geckoes started the half strong and were very unlucky not to get a second penalty when a Hibs defender quite clearly punched the ball away from a Geckoes cross. And they had a chance to claim all three points at the end when a Rob Hughes flick on fell for Rob Manager, but his tame shot was gathered comfortably by the keeper.
So it finished at 2-2 which was a disappointing result for the Geckoes against a team that were quite clearly there for the taking. The Geckoes could claim to have been unlucky and even the better side on the day, but the Hibs could rightly claim to have had better shirts.
Report - WSG
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