Morton 1-1 Hibs
JASON CUMMINGS says his stunning equaliser against Morton on Saturday came as a result of the extra work he's been putting in on the training ground - in a bid to win back a starting berth for Hibernian.
Cummings netted a brilliant free-kick against the Greenock men at Cappielow, to nick a point for the visitors in testing conditions against a spirited home outfit. And the 21-year-old admits that he was delighted to see it dip into the corner of the net.
He said: "It was a one-off because I actually don't usually take free-kicks. I've been practising them for the last two weeks, obviously with a lot of my spare time because I've not been playing.
"I've been staying behind in training and taking them, and even [on Saturday] at half-time. I just thought I'd have a shot, and luckily it went in."
The home side started the brightest and went close through ex-Hearts striker Gary Oliver. Some neat work down the right-hand side by Jamie McDonagh eventually landed at the feet of Oliver but he scooped his shot over the crossbar from inside the area.
McDonagh himself then went close with a curling effort that fell just wide before Michael Tidser had an effort from 20-yards that was well held by Ross Laidlaw between the sticks for Hibs.
Neil Lennon's men were lucky to go in level at the break as the hosts had dominated the first half exchanges. But the team from the Capital were determined to start the second half quicker, and they did just that.
Martin Boyle and Brian Graham both had chances to net, but they were carelessly ruled out for offside.
All eyes were on Celtic's emergency loanee Kris Commons in the build-up to the game, but he struggled to get going. It was obvious that it was his first competitive appearance since back in April - when he came off the bench for the Hoops at Tynecastle. And his attempted to chip over Morton goalkeeper Derek Gaston fell the wrong side of the crossbar after 65 minutes.
Jamie McDonagh and David Gray both brought out saves from their opposition stoppers before the game came to life with 10 minutes remaining.
Morton opened the scoring in unique fashion when Ross Forbes bent a wicked strike off the crossbar from 25-yards. The rebound fell to McDonagh, whose acrobatic effort suffered the same fate. However this time the rebound fell to Gary Oliver, who made no mistake from six yards and prodded the ball home.
But Ton celebrations didn't last long. Cummings took aim with his set-piece and whipped a spectacular swirling shot into the inside netting, beyond the helpless arms of Gaston.
Ton manager Jim Duffy was proud of his team's efforts, in the end, and he said: "The effort every single player put in was enormous. They gave absolutely everything.
"It was almost like a cup game, and was helter-skelter at times.There were tackles going in and commitment.
"I thought in the first half we were definitely the better side. We had a couple of good strikes at goal and good chances. I thought we played well in the first half, but in the second half we got a bit tired and Hibs were stretching us a bit.
"We found that hard to compete with."
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