- Tim Clancy
New signing Tim Clancy opened his Hibs goal-scoring account with a stunning 25 yard free-kick to secure a 2-0 victory over second division East Fife at New Bayview Stadium on Saturday.
There was a familiar face in the home dug out for the travelling support. Gordon ‘Jukebox’ Durie had a successful spell in the green and white, making 47 appearances and scoring 14 goals before attracting the attention of Chelsea. Durie then moved to Spurs and Rangers before ending his career with Hearts.
Before the game, The Edinburgh Reporter spoke to some of the Hibs fans to gauge their thoughts ahead of this season.
Craig McGroarty from Hamilton said:- “You never know with the Hibs. I hope we are better than last season, but I’m not expecting anything brilliant. So far I’ve been pleased with the new signings but we need a couple of strikers at least.”
- Craig McGroarty and Terry Daykin
His views were echoed by pal Terry Daykin from Leith who said:- “I’m confident ahead of next season. We have to fight for second place and bring more supporters back. It’s good to see McPake back, and I know some Falkirk fans who have seen Cairney play and they tell me he is a good player. We need another goalkeeper and definitely a big striker.”
Father and son Peter and Finlay Hart from Silverknowes suggested that the attitude of the team last year was not right. Peter said; “We need to get some bottle on the park and believe in themselves. Any team would like to have someone like James McPake to solidify the side.”
The game had been hastily arranged after the midweek clash with Rapid Bucharest which was due to have taken place at Grangemouth was cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch.
A sizeable Hibs support made the journey across the Forth to see the debuts of new keeper Ben Williams, Tim Clancy and Paul Cairney, along with the return of captain James McPake who received a tremendous ovation when he led the team out.
- Finlay Hart
Tim Clancy started the game at right back, with Paul Hanlon on the left. McPake was partnered in defence by David Stephens.
Eoin Doyle was up front on his own and whilst he worked hard, he was unable to penetrate the Fifers rear-guard.
Hibs began brightly, and Ivan Sproule was unlucky to see his long range shot tipped over the bar, and even more unlucky when the referee awarded a goal kick, to the annoyance of the Hibs fans.
Scotland under 21 international David Wotherspoon looked lively and had two long range efforts which struck the post and then the bar, as the Easter Road men dominated possession.
Hibs should have had a penalty when an East Fife defender handled a Cairney corner, but the referee was away the appeals.
It was East Fife however who almost opened the scoring when full back Johnstone hit a speculative cross which deceived keeper Big Ben Williams who was delighted to see the long range effort strike the crossbar and bounce to safety.
- Hibs fans
In the second half, young Ross Caldwell replaced Doyle, and made his mark within five minutes when he held off an East Fife defender before finding Paul Cairney on the left wing. New Signing Cairney’s cross found Sproule unmarked in the box, and the Northern Irish international blasted the ball past the helpless keeper.
Caldwell had the ball in the net a few minutes later, but his lob was ruled out for offside.
Isaiah Osbourne was unlucky to see two well struck shots saved before Tim Clancy wrapped things up. With fifteen minutes remaining, Pa Kujabi was brought down on the edge of the box, and Clancy curled a twenty five yard free kick over the wall into the top corner.
All three new signings played their part in the victory. Williams looked confident and was continually shouting instructions to his defenders, whilst Clancy fitted played well at right back in the first half then replaced Stephens at centre back in the second. Cairney showed some nice touches on the left and linked up well with Hanlon.
After the game, Pat Fenlon said:- “It was disappointing with the game being called off through the week, but it was great to get a game before we travel. There was a lot of positives in it and obviously a lot of stuff we need to work on but I’m happy enough but maybe over the weekend we can work on things that weren’t right although a lot of it was decent enough. We didn’t sign Tim Clancy for his ability to take a free kick, so that’s a bonus. It’s like everything, it takes the lads time to settle in but they have worked really hard for two weeks. Today, I thought we started really well for twenty five minutes and started the second half in a high tempo as well. We should have scored more today, we had two or three other really good chances.”
On Tuesday, the squad fly out to Belgium for their pre-season tour.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
