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Todoroki, Sunday 27th May, With a victory in their final game of the season the Hibs had the chance to leap-frog a couple of perennial mid table teams (whose names escape me at the moment) and relieve them of the vertigo that they had no doubt been suffering from, before the condition became permanent. This could have had dire consequences with known side effects too numerous to mention. France FC had motivations of their own as they were embroiled in a relegation battle and for a club with a proud history they had a lot to play for.
Whilst it is no secret thatThe Hibs season began like a runaway train only to been skuppered by injuries, players moving on, global warming, El Nino, mad cow disease, bird flu and a very nasty paper cut; losses against teams in the bottom sector of the table (including France) had, once and for all, put paid to our title aspirations.
We were buoyed by the cameo appearance of Christiano Ronaldo impressionist Yohei Ohta, who had been one of the Hibs best players in the previous seasons’ title winning squad before being drafted to Manila by his company and a petition of Makati bar girls. “The Brazilian tank” Andre Pinto had also returned to the team after a few games on the sidelines and we also welcomed back Rod, Jorgen and Naoki. The bare eleven we had looked strong on paper.
The match began with the Hibs dominating field position and a few chances going astray early, most notably Mike heading at the keeper from 6 yards out in space. The deadlock was finally broken after some good work by Yohei released Mike McG, who put in a great ball to Tomo who had time to steady and lofted the keeper, with the ball going in on the under side of the bar. Tomo soon added a second after Jorgen played him in with a ball to his feet in the box and the familiar sharp turn and back post finish was signature Tomo. His 16th goal of the season 10 minutes into the game had Kirk sweating bullets from his position peering through binoculars in the Todoroki bushes, with only 4 more Tomo goals to go before his golden boot turned a dull shade of silver. We went into half time at 2-0 and France had the benefit of the strong wind in the second half.
Fortunately for the Hibs in the 2nd half we began to show form of old, pressing forward in numbers with attacking midfielders piling forward into the box, Andre chasing down everything, Mike holding the ball up well and Tomo about to cut loose. 15 minutes in and the goals started to flow, Yohei scoring from close range after hitting the inside of the post minutes earlier; then cracking a 30 yard free kick into the side netting. Kuni K chipped home from close range before Andre
Headed in a 6th that was well deserved after his tireless running; Tomo unselfishly laying it on for him, when he could well have scored himself. Soon after Kirk was spotted sneaking away from the bushes chuckling and rubbing his hands together. Congratulations to the big man; to go from a centre back to Golden boot winning striker in one season is not an easy job.
This was a great way to finish the season, Rod and Jorgen were revelations in the full back positions, Naoki and Jay solid as ever and we looked good going forward for the first time in a while.
Bring on 07/08.
Report by Bevan Colless.
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