Kujabi a part of derby folklore

Football columnist

Sunday 20 May 2012

TO get beaten in a cup final is bad; to get beaten by your biggest rivals is worse; but to get demolished in the way Hibs were yesterday is horrific.

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Billy Dodds

The rawness of their disappointment might ease after a few days, but this game will forever be part of Edinburgh derby folklore.

How many times do you hear Hibs fans going on about the 7-0 game? And Hearts fans going on about 1902? Well, those Tynecastle fans now have another afternoon to add to their songbooks and another Hibs hero to hail: Pa Kujabi.

Ever since the Gambian came to Scotland, I've worried about him. He's short, lacks presence and cannot defend; three major problems for a full-back. Sure, he's good on the ball and sticks at it but that's just not enough. He was exposed down the left by Hibs' formation because their narrow midfield meant he had both Ryan McGowan and Suso Santana coming down the flank at him. It wasn't difficult to see what was going to happen.Even then, you cannot deal with the situation the way Kujabi did. He lunged in on Suso to get his first booking, then later he tugged his jersey to concede a penalty. As if that was not bad enough, he was sent off, killing the game in the process, which was unforgivable.The thing was, had he stayed on the park and Hibs had a good 10 minutes at the start of the second half, it could have been a classic cup final. I think Pat Fenlon would be the first to admit that his formation didn't work from the kick-off but, to be fair to him, he didn't just leave it. I've been in that situation with Queen of the South, when we were 2-0 down to Rangers at half-time, and your head is swimming, but Pat spotted the problem and made the right change by flattening his midfield and shifting Tom Soares to the right. Within minutes, they got a goal back and then switched to a 4-5-1 to match Hearts and it looked like we had a real game on our hands – only for Kujabi to rashly intervene and end it as a contest.For what is a poor Hibs team to go from having the chance of being legends to being 3-1 down, with 10 men and more than 40 minutes of the final left, it amounted to a real test of their character. It's only the really big players who stand up and say "okay, we're not going to win the cup but let's make sure we're not embarrassed". The one thing you don't do as a team is open up; you keep it nice and tight and, who knows, maybe nick a goal – but for it to quickly go to 5-1, well, that was just disastrous.For Hearts, though, the result showed how much of an influence Paulo Sergio has had on that club. To be a Hearts manager you have to, first and foremost, know your stuff, but you've also got to deal with everything else that comes with being at the club. Sergio has got the balance right and kept his players away from all the off-field problems, and he kept them focused when they weren't getting paid earlier in the season. That's his greatest achievement but what he has done on the pitch is almost as impressive.Sure, Rudi Skacel will get the headlines but, for me, Ian Black was man of the match and that is down to Sergio's influence. People talk about Black's energy – they used to do the same with me too, and I hated it – but his technique is excellent and I think he's calmed down as well. He's been helped by Sergio seeing that Darren Barr – who has been a defender all his career – could be an effective sitting midfielder. His being there, making tackles, has allowed Black room to step up, dictate the game and make passes.It frees up the rest of the midfield too, and means that Sergio is able to get Skacel into his team. With players like the Czech and Garry Harkins, who I had at Dundee – guys who can't defend and show no interest in doing so – you've got to build your team to accommodate them and the system Hearts play does that.The only shame is that this team might get broken up in the summer, with Black, Skacel and maybe even Sergio leaving to cut costs. If they are going to go, though, this wasn't a bad way to bow out.

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Kujabi a part of derby folklore

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