Hibs were sucker punched in yesterday’s ViaPlay Cup Semi Final losing 1-0 to a 10 man Aberdeen team.
It was a rough cup exit for Hibs who despite controlling the majority of the game and having the ball in the back of the Aberdeen net lost to a Bojan Miovski goal who’s team were down to ten men at the time.
The game started as a typical Hampden semi final with both teams looking edgy and failing to produce any real quality.
Elie Youan and Joe Newell has Hibs’ best chances in the opening half but both strikes missed the target and other than that the early stages were largely dominated by poor quality set pieces and sloppy phases of possession.
Aberdeen’s tactics of going long to Miovski weren’t working, Hibs were struggling to find a man with their final pass and the first half finally ended after what felt like a long and slightly torturous 45 minutes.
Hibs came out after the break the better side and thought they’d opened the scoring after Martin Boyle had done brilliantly to control and finish past Kelle Roos.
However the screens at Hampden Park brought the Hibs fan crashing back down to earth as they flashed with the VAR logo and the goal was to be checked for a possible offside.
The decision was finally revealed after minutes of boos and the goal was chalked off as Boyle was found to be inches offside.
That helped spring the game into life and both teams started to create more chances, Hibs had efforts by Dylan Vente and Jair Tavares saved and Aberdeen were beginning to come into it before Jack MacKenzie received his second booking for a silly shove on Lewis Miller.
With Aberdeen down to 10 men Hibs pushed to find their winner but after losing the ball in midfield found themselves light in defence and Miovski broke clear in acres of space.
He done well to finish past David Marshall to send the Dons support wild and the team on to the most unlikeliest of victories.
Hibs resorted to hitting the ball long in the closing stages desperately looking for an equaliser but the Aberdeen defence stood firm and held on to their precious one goal lead to progress through to the final next month.
Post match Nick Montgomery said: “Definitely hurting. I thought we controlled the game for large parts.
“I thought we played really well, and I thought we had enough opportunities to win the game…but that wasn’t to be.
“A couple of incidents went against us which we can’t change.
“What we can do is get back onto the training ground and get ready for St. Mirren on Wednesday”
After the match Hibernian announced that one of their supporters had sadly died after the game.
A statement from the club read: “Hibernian FC are devastated to learn of the passing of one of our supporters outside Hampden Park after the game this evening.
“The thoughts of everyone at the Club are with the gentleman’s family, friends and loved ones.
“We send our condolences at this extremely sad time.”
Masters Student currently studying Sports Journalism at Edinburgh Napier University.
