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Hodogaya, Sunday 25th March, The Hibs went into this match looking to put our first league win of 2007 on the board. It is no secret that we have hit a lean spell, but we had been buoyed by a strong showing, including a victory over the Celts in the previous week’s Dubliner’s cup. After an unlucky loss against France in reality we had to win this one to still be in a chance of winning the league. We began strongly with Rob making his way to the bye-line and cutting it back for Keita whose shot ricocheted into a defender and fell to new recruit Mike. After bagging 2 goals last week, his luck deserted him as the shot went straight to the keeper from 8 yards out.
The Celts were not to be outdone and they began to put some nice attacking moves together and a free kick from wide on the left was met with a looping header by the Celts centre back which had Hitoshi beaten, but the post came to the rescue. An innocuous attack saw a Celts player with back to goal wide on the left in the corner of the penalty area, and Yasu who was filling in at right back clipped his heels just inside the box. A penalty was correctly awarded. The penalty was finished well low down to the left and allowed to stand despite a Celts player encroaching so early that he was almost at the 6 yard box when the ball was struck. The Hibs were struggling to deal with the off side trap and could not mount many other chances in the first half, and the game went into the break at 1-0.
The 2nd half saw the Hibs begin to dominate field position as we pressed for the equalizer. We finally got on the score sheet when Tomo beat the offside trap on the right and rolled it across the face of the goal to Rob Scott, who finished well from the back post. All credit to the Celts manager who was running the line and correctly kept the flag down. Teams combining an offside trap with a biased linesman has become a blight on the league and it was refreshing to see honesty in this case. 1-1 and the Hibs were pressing for a win in the last 20. Unfortunately we seemed to have run out of ideas and time and time again the ball was chipped into the final third for the tall Celts back line to head away from danger. As the Hibs pressed forward the Celts had a few chances on the break, but the match finished at 1-1. Our hopes for the league seem all but dashed, but we still have the cup and we’re confident this slump will make us appreciate the good times when we return to full strength.
Report by Bevan Colless
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