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Hachioji Park, Saturday 1st November
The Celts and Hibs have had a local-derby type rivalry akin to a Man City v Man U and have always had close games which have been played in (largely) good spirit. Both teams come from Irish roots, but in recent years the Celts have had more Irish players than the Hibs (call to all Irishmen in Tokyo who are good footballers “Come and join the Hibs” the ex-Tokyo Irish need Irish!). The Celts that lined up on this cool Saturday night at Hachioji were noticeably more international than recent years and there was no doubt from early on that they were up for this one and that they were certainly not just all brawn.
Despite the chest-thumpings from last season’s 1-2 placed teams after recent convincing wins, both teams will have benefitted from a tooth-and -nail scrap for points, to remind them that TML league points are earned not given. Fortunately, The Hibs we were on the right side of the 1-0 ledger after this spirited encounter with the Kanto Celts.
The Celts began at 100/mph and never let up; packing a five-man midfield and a “full court press” style defence that meant the usual Hibs short passing game was difficult to implement. Hibs defenders were often left without a free man to pass to and forced to play the long ball forward. The Celts began having the better of field position and possession but were stung on a Hibs counter ten minutes into the game by ex-Celt Eduardo. A great long diagonal ball from Mike McGirr just made it over the Celts right fullback and Edu found himself one-on-one with the well advanced Celts keeper and an easy lob over him saw the Hibs 1-0 up.
The Celts continued their high-tempo game throughout the half, but did not really muster any clear chances on goal. The lack of the extra bit of quality to create chances and score goals proved the difference between the two sides in the end. Soon after the first goal, Mike McGirr had his own one-on one but tried to strike it flat instead of lob and a retreating defender got in the way to deny him. With McGirr it’s not only got to be effective, it’s got to be pretty. Spending six hours in the sun coaching BFA kids earlier in the day probably didn’t help either.1-0 at half time and we knew there was a lot of work to do.
The second half continued along similar lines. As the half progressed and the urgency increased; the Celts pressed more players forward. They were unlucky not to be square when denied a penalty as Josh appeared to hold back a Celts attacker with Hitoshi scrambling for the ball. The Hibs were counting down the clock and right down to the last 10 seconds it could have gone either way as the last play of the game saw the ball flash across the Hibs goal, which only needed a faint touch for the equaliser.
The 20-game season is only 5 games old for the Hibs, but SFSG. Next up, our long-lost old foe, Les Blues.
Match report by Bevan Colless
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