Hibs’ Head Coach Alan Stubbs is delighted to be in the next round of the William Hill Scottish Cup but admits his players were ‘sloppy’ in the first half.
For the second week in succession, Stubbs’ half time team talk saw a marked difference in performance amongst his players. This time, with the large travelling support considering that a replay was on the cards however an ‘inspired’ pair of substitutions paid immediate dividends.
Firstly Darren McGregor replaced the tiring new signing Niklas Gunnarsson at right back then moments later Liam Henderson replaced Marvin Bartley which provided a more attacking option.
Henderson quickly set up Lewis Stevenson whose cross from the left was met by McGregor who fired the ball past Kevin Cuthbert into the net. Two minutes later Dominique Malonga scored a contender for ‘Goal of the Season’ with a sensational 30 yard strike which flew into the top corner of the net leaving Cuthbert helpless.
The draw for the fifth round will take place on Monday at 6.15pm live on Sky Sports.
Speaking immediately after the game to Cliff Pike of Hibs TV, Stubbs said: “I thought we were sloppy first half. I thought there were too many decisions that we didn’t make right and it became a scrappy first half which didn’t suit us. Raith were organised and didn’t let us play and you have to give them credit for that.
“We had a few words at half time to speak about what we weren’t doing which to be fair was quite a few things and when you compare both halves it was night and day.
“It’s certainly not me, it’s the players that go on the pitch that take the credit. We just changed a little bit and we just felt that the players coming on gave us a bit more of an impact, get us on the ball more and it worked.
“From that point of view, if it did give us a bit more of a foothold in the game, then great. That’s what we have to do. When the games are unfolding we have to make decisions.
“Dominique’s goal gave us a little bit of a breathing space and when it went in you could see the confidence beginning to grow within the team. Everybody wanted a touch of the ball. I want it to be like that when it’s nil-nil. we started to find purple jerseys a lot more. We started to get into areas of the pitch that hurt them rather than waiting and then playing it.
” I thought it was a comfortable win in the end and overall we are delighted to be in the next round.”
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.
