Kildale Versus Hibs  - Dale Drubbing

Once more The Mighty Hibs ventured up the valley to the largely inhospitable if quaint little ground at the Dale, a far cry from Fortress Broughton Park.

The Dale’s dodgy manager, “The Shirt” has assembled an “eclectic gaggle of superstars “ with all the resulting Big Time Charlie issues (See Unison comments). In pre-match interviews, the normally reticent Wenger-like character renounced his past claiming once again that Discipline and organisation were his outfit’s core values. A rift looked likely when Dr brother, Frankenstein’s Igor looked likely to be on the bench, only for old faithful to be re-instated following Pazza’s prediction. Fair to his word however, he did at least start the game without his big gun.

The Hibs, not normally eager to follow, more likely to lead were suffering from a similar problem – no shows a-go-go from the select lead to a shuffle in the pack and a test to the squad approach.

The Game

A bright start from the Hibs was difficult for the Dale to swallow. The strong sunshine seemed to dull their edge as Georgy, Stoz and the Scarecrow, guesting (but signed on that very morning!), looked sharp. The bar was rocked above a hapless Jon Grainge. His brother looked out of sorts as Langy & Chore took hold of midfield. The pressure finally told, Georgy slotting from 10 yards.

The Dale shook, selection crisis or not, his job was on the line and the shirt acted. Budda, Dales top scorer was removed to make way for Newts. More impressive was the introduction of Buzzer from Ingleby. After half an hour the game began to swing their way. To be fair, whist deserving a 2-1 lead at half time, Hibs presented the killer blows.

HT    Dale 2  Hibs 1

Second half was expected to be a real battle. New instruction issued and things didn’t look too bad until Lee Dodds picked up a bad clearance. He’d not played too well until that point but managed to strike a cracker from 25 yards that Dirk could only manage to palm into the top corner. Hibs lost discipline and almost the will to live. Very disappointing next phase saw “the Fawce” grab a creditable hat trick as the Hibs folded. No argument, Owen Davies did well when entering the fray late on, countering a Cock of the week award for the best patch jeans ever seen.

Full time Dale 9 (nine, can’t believe it) Hibs 1

MOM Joe Busby

Snapometer - Fantastic but no oomlaters    - 9

Home