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Misato, Sunday 15th April, The Hibs and the Swiss are out of the running for the 2007 league title, but still managed to dig deep and find things to play for on a Sunday morning at Misato.
The Hibs' injury woes reached new heights when Jay's dad, who had come just to watch the game, pulled a muscle before the starting whistle. They had a bigger loss when Captain Naoki went down 10 minutes into the first half, for a full 11 starters lost this season - congrats also to Ike, Bevan, Kuni H, Yama, Mick, Yohei, Josh, Steve, Keita and Sam.
The game was physical and hard-fought from the start, with the Hibs attempting to get their passing game going on the bubbly pitch and the Swiss pounding long balls up to its two big forwards.
Both strategies yielded chances in the first half, with the Swiss keeper forced into making several saves and the Hibs' Hitoshi also parrying a point-blank shot wide. Advantage Hibs, especially when Andre came on midway through to create several chances, but nothing to show for it - score tied 0-0 at the half.
The Hibs looked much stronger early in the second half, with Tomo back to his normal midfield spot after playing forward earlier. He set up a few near misses before beating two defenders himself and scoring on a bubbly shot lower right. 1 - 0 to the Hibs, making Tomo officially again the league's leading scorer. The Hibs then began to pull back a bit, with the Swiss throwing numbers forward supported by the Misato jet stream. The Hibs looked like they would pull it out until about two minutes to go, when a good cross was brought down nicely by a Swiss attacker who was then tripped up in the box. Kirk stepped up to calmly score the PK, bringing him back even with Tomo for season goals. 1-1, game over.
The Hibs were once again left shaking their heads over a game they should've won versus the Swiss, who were visibly happy to have pulled out another draw.
A big cheer for Steve Taw from YCAC, who filled in as ref for most of the match after playing in the previous game, and did a great job as well..
Report by Jay Alabaster.
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