Hibs run out of Ayr

Hibs’ form was little short of abysmal going into this one. Without a win since mid-November, and yet to score a goal in 2011, Hibs should have looked to secure a confidence-boosting victory at Somerset Park, much like their fellow league strugglers St Mirren managed away at Peterhead, winning 6-1.

Ayr began brightly and their resolve never looked like breaking once veteran striker Mark Roberts put them ahead on 19 minutes. Hibs were simply not at the races and Roberts’ skill and composed finish were the cost of such an underwhelming start; goalkeeper Graeme Smith had already nearly gifted Ayr the lead after ten minutes by spilling his catch at a corner.

Hibs forced several goal-line clearances throughout the match, but the best chance by far fell to John Rankin in the first half whose shot from deep inside the box, goal gaping, can most kindly be described as tepid.

Despite doing most of the running, Hibs’ attacks were rather blunt. They struggled to sustain their pressure, and thus gather momentum, and too easily Ayr broke
upfield and bought themselves breathing space.

Time and again they failed to reach target-man Nish with any crosses and no-one was shooting with any real conviction. Ayr simply soaked it all up, they had given their lesson in clinical attacking play and were happy to see it go unheeded by the visitors.

They say that “where there’s a will, there’s a way”, but Hibs threw serious doubt on this as their honest toil and general huffing-and-puffing yielded nothing. Perhaps this is not the season to be worrying about the Cup, though, as Hibs need to save their hard grafting for the league.

With manager Colin Calderwood looking to tie up business in the transfer market and the crunch home game against St. Mirren looming large at the start of February, now is as good a time as any to set about improving the league position.