FOR Motherwell, this was a case of two points dropped. They enjoyed the bulk of possession and created more (admittedly, half) chances but could not put the ball in the net.
Hibernian manager Jack Ross, meanwhile, left Fir Park with one point for his side and another to ponder. He was shown a yellow card by referee Colin Steven during the first half of this dour affair and he has yet to discover what offence he committed.
“I would love to know what it was for,” he said. “Dissent, maybe? I just asked a question [of the fourth official] without swearing and without raising my voice. Obviously, I’ve been out of the country and the rules must have changed. Now dissent must be different. There’s nothing I can do about it but I’ll obviously learn not to ask questions anymore.”
James Scott, in for the injured Chris Long, was the first player to come close, cutting in from the left to curl a shot just wide of the far post in the fifth minute.
As far as any action went, that was pretty much that until midway through the first half when Hibs goalkeeper Ofir Marciano fisted away Jake Carroll’s netbound free-kick from 20 yards.
The visitors struggled to string three passes together and spent the bulk of the first half on the back foot, which is where they were when a dipping 25-yarder from Liam Polworth shaved the crossbar.
Stephane Omeonga, booked earlier for persistent fouling, was fortunate to escape a second yellow card in the 33rd minute when he took out Liam Donnelly. Then Ross was cautioned while Donnelly also had his name taken for dispensing retribution to the Belgian at the first available opportunity. As the contest became increasingly feisty, Christian Doidge was cautioned for elbowing Donnelly in the face and could not have complained had the match official sent him off.
Motherwell were on top but they weren’t creating much in the way of opportunities and Long’s clever prompting was sorely missed. A moment of slackness by Scotland defender Declan Gallagher allowed Daryl Horgan to record Hibs’ first effort on target in the 53rd minute, which was pushed away by Mark Gillespie, who could only watch as Florian Kamberi then headed Martin Boyle’s cross against the base of his left-hand post from point-blank range. Marciano had to get down quickly to gather a low drive from James Scott and another from Donnelly was deflected behind for a corner but the hosts struggled to find something palpable to show for their dominance.
It took a sensational diving save from Marciano at full stretch to touch substitute Christy Manzinga’s shot onto the crossbar after Allan Campbell had picked Omeonga’s pocket.
“Arguably, shot-stopping is his biggest strength and his save at the end was an important one for us,” said Ross. “His ability to react like that is a big plus for us; it’s an important trait for any goalkeeper because it wins you points.
“He made some big saves on our early matches and now, after a period of relative inactivity, he’s made another one. I see him do that all the time in training.
“Our defensive performances in recent weeks have been pretty good, even though they haven’t always been rewarded by clean sheets. We’ve had to make a lot of changes due to the serious injuries to Ryan Porteous and Jason Naismith and today David Gray was ill so we’ve had no continuity at the back.”
By then Hibs had settled for a draw and Tom James and Scott Allan were content to collect cautions in order to halt the home side’s attacks as the match petered out.
“I thought we were terrific and dominated the game but we just didn’t have that final touch when it mattered,” said home boss Stephen Robinson.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here