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Hachioji Park, Sat 25th February. This was a very important league game with the end of the season approaching quickly. The Hibs dominated the early exchanges and missed a few chances early. In the 30th minute Naoki played a great diagonal ball across the box that Josh met on the volley with an outrageous flick that looped beyond the keeper and into the far corner. We had a few other chances that went awry and the Swiss did not have a shot on goal and the half finished at 1-0.
Into the second half the Hibs tended to sit back and let the Swiss come at us. Despite having less possession we defended well and midway through the half the Swiss had still yet to produce a shot on goal all game. This is when Ricky the ref took centre stage. The Swiss defender Raphael got onto a long ball into the box, but he was wide out, isolated and well marked by Ike, with nothing going on. He turned and ran directly into Ike who was in close attention. Despite no Swiss player thinking it worth an appeal, the usually excellent ref Ricky, unbelievably blew the whistle and pointed to the spot. Dave Pratt’s ensuing top shelf penalty gave Hitoshi no chance. Things went from the unbelievable to the ridiculous 2 minutes later when a harmless through ball was making its way to Hitoshi when Ricky blew another foul on Ike for an innocuous shoulder bump well away from the ball. This one was 20 yards out and Dave Pratt caught Hitoshi slightly out of position and put a great free kick into the net. The Hibs threw everything forward for the remaining 20 minutes but the Swiss got everyone behind the ball and the we couldn’t find the finishing touch. If those two decisions were made against England in a World Cup quarter final Ricky would need to be taken to a bomb shelter in Siberia for 6 months for his own safety, but this was Hachioji not Munich and the Hibs were left with nothing but an insignificant moan and a long train ride home to let the loss sink in.
It was disappointing that for such a key game the talking point was two refereeing decisions and not the football. But such is the luck of football and the Hibs have to get themselves back up for this Sunday’s game against France FC. .
Report - Bevan Colless.
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