Hibernian 2 Dunfermline 0

Saturday, 30th Dec 2006

Pars not in the hunt at Easter Road after another match in which they failed to score.

573 Pars fans travelled to Easter Road

Stevie Crawford and Stephen Simmons returned in place of the suspended Jim Hamilton and Freddie Daquin. Phil McGuire and Greg Shields passed late fitness tests to play despite the afects of a flu virus. Hibs were without keeper Zibigniew Malkowski and the suspended Dean Shiels; 19 year old Andrew McNeill made his Hibs debut between the sticks, Steven Fletcher came into the team and Abdessalam Benjouleen exchanged his starting place with Jamie McCluskey.

Simmons and Burchill kicked off towards the Famous Five Stand and there was a loud roar of encouragement for the home keeper as he came out to hold cleanly a 55th second free kick flighted in from the right by Scott Muirhead.

Patiently the visitors played their way into the game and Crawford was unlucky to be pulled up for illegal use of his arm in controlling a fine through ball from Sol Bamba in 9 minutes. Hibs first chance came a minute later when Whittaker`s deep cross was met by Fletcher on the left side of the six yard box but his effort went back through the area without damage.

The home fans were howling in disappointment when Scott Brown screwed a good chance wide left from the edge of the box. They hoped for much better after de Vries could only parry away a 19th minute dangerous cross from the right off the boot of McCluskey. Thankfully the Hill o` Beath boy did not deliver, nor could be avoid the offside trap moments later when he threatened to head down for Killen on the top of the Pars six yard box.

Dunfermline were still not penetrating the final third of the park and their only visit to the Hibees penalty area came when a Burchill cross was headed behind by Whittaker for the Pars first corner of the game in 27th minute. Simmons launched that over from the left but Hibs defended with ease.

Similarly Dunfermline had nothing to fear from Hibs first corner of the afternoon five minutes later as Michael Stewart`s delivery was headed wide of the far goalpost by Steven Fletcher. Hibs were denied chances although Dunfermline collected three first half yellow cards in the process and Scott Wilson in particular played a crucial part in keeping Hibs out.

Half Time: Hibernian 0 Dunfermline 0

John Collins shuffled his pack for the second half reflecting his frustrations at his side`s inability to penetrate the defence of the SPL`s bottom team. Benjouleen and Thomson came on for McCluskey and Beuzelin and Hibs were in a positive mode from the restart. Both Thomson and Whittaker had shots at goal within the opening five minutes but neither had their sights properly set.

Hibs had certainly turned up the pressure but there was some slight relief as Mason played a through ball for Burchill that brought the all yellow keeper out to intercept at the edge of his box. Back at the other end the defence almost paid for being unable to clear cleanly and Stewart popped another long range effort that was again off target.

Gary Mason, already on a yellow card, was fortunate to escape another for his 59th minute challenge on an opponent. Next Shields conceded a free kick on the edge of the box and Rob Jones headed wide at the far post.

Gary Mason, already on a yellow card, was fortunate to escape another for his 59th minute challenge on an opponent. Next Shields conceded a free kick on the edge of the box and Rob Jones headed wide at the far post.

A very good chance came the Pars way in 62nd minute when Mark Burchill got deep on the left and his cross picked out Crawford but when he turned at shot from 15 yards out the ball was despatched inches wide right. As can so often happen DA paid dearly for the miss because Hibs strung together a fine move that was finished by Chris KILLEN who received Brown`s pass to wrong foot McGuire and then net with a low driven ball from the top of the penalty box.

Hibs might have gone two up in the next minute but de Vries pulled off a fine save from Killen but unfortunately injured himself in the process. Roddy McKenzie came on and although he had made one interception to cut out a Hibs cross his next job was to face a KILLEN penalty.

The spot kick was awarded for a rather pointless handball from Souleymane Bamba as the ball flashed wide left off a Thomson corner from the right. The 25 year old New Zealand striker sent his right footed shot into the bottom right and Dunfermline were 2-0 down.

Gary Mason had an opportunity to get a goal back but was wide with his effort and then thankfully two Benjouleen attempts failed to increase Hibs lead. Hibs were getting plenty free kick practice but they got progressively worse with Benjouleen sending an 85th minute effort straight into the arms of McKenzie.

Dunfermline never looked like winning this game and really a 0-0 scoreline was the best that could have been achieved. After gifting the silly penalty there was no way back and now Dunfermline`s plight is able demonstrated by the sad fact that they have failed to score in the last 360 minutes of 2006.

HIBERNIAN: Andrew McNeill; Steven Whittaker, Shelton Martis, Rob Jones, David Murphy; Jamie McCluskey (Abdessalam Benjouleen HT), Guillaume Beuzelin (Kevin Thomson HT), Michael Stewart, Scott Brown; Steven Fletcher (Stephen Glass 68), Chris Killen
SUBS NOT USED: Simon Brown, Lewis Stevenson, Kevin McCann, Ross Campbell
SCORERS: Killen (63, 72 pen)
YELLOW CARD: none

DUNFERMLINE: Dorus de Vries (Roddy McKenzie 66); Greg Shields (c), Phil McGuire, Scott Wilson, Darren Young; Gary Mason, Souleymane Bamba (Andy Tod 80), Stephen Simmons, Scott Muirhead; Stevie Crawford, Mark Burchill (Frederic Daquin 67)
SUBS NOT USED: Scott Morrison, Greg Ross, Calum Woods, Iain Williamson
YELLOW CARD: Young (35), McGuire (36), Mason (40), Bamba (73)

REFEREE: Iain Brines
WEATHER: Fine 7°C
ATTENDANCE 14061

NEXT MATCH: (home) SPL v Hearts, Tuesday 2nd January 2007, kick off 2.00pm

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Preview Hibernian

Wednesday, 27th Dec 2006

Dunfermline have still to win on the road this season and have scored only three away goals in capturing their t

Ticket Info:- Hibs v Dunfermline 30/12/06

The trip to Easter Road is the next opportunity for Stephen Kenny`s side to begin their much desired comeback.  Eight points behind St Mirren, the Fifers are in danger of falling too far behind the rest of the pack even though there are still 17 SPL matches remaining.

Premier League v Hibernian (Away)
Pld	W	D	L	F	A
21	3	5	13	20	47

The Premier League record at Easter Road holds only three Pars wins to the Hibees 13, with the three wins all came in a row between 2002 and 2003.

Milestones Hibernian (Away)
Last League Victory	21/12/03	3 -1	SPL
Last League Defeat	21/01/06	1-3	SPL
Best League Victory	11/09/02	4-1	SPL
Worst League Defeat	25/02/56	1-7	Div One*
*Pre league reconstruction

This will be the 97th league meetings between the clubs. The Edinburgh have 43 victories to the Pars 20 and the Hibees have won five of the last six league fixtures between the clubs.

Last Twelve League Matches v Hibernian
Date	H/A	F-A	Scorers
23/10/06	H	0-4	[0-1] Sproule, [0-2] Killen, [0-3] Benjoullen, [0-4] Killen
21/01/06	A	1-3	[0-1] Riordan, [1-1] Donnelly, [1-2] Riordan, [1-3] Fletcher
26/10/05	H	1-2	[0-1] O`Connor, [0-2] O`Connor, [1-2] Mason
30/07/05	A	1-1	[1-0] Shields, [1-1] O`Connor
19/03/05	H	1-4	[1-0] Nicholson, [1-1] Riordan, [1-2] Fletcher, [1-3] Fletcher, [1-4] Riordan
18/12/04	A	1-2	[0-1] Glass, [1-1] Tod, [1-2] Riordan
02/10/04	H	1-1	[0-1] O`Connor, [1-1] Donnelly
13/04/04	H	1-1	[0-1] Riordan, [1-1] Dempsey
21/12/03	A	2-1	[1-0] Brewster, [2-0] Brewster, [2-1] Riordan
20/09/03	H	0-0
15/02/03	A	3-1	[1-0] Mason, [2-0] Crawford, [3-0] Crawford, [3-1] O`Connor
30/11/02	H	1-1	[0-1] McManus, [1-1] Crawford

This is Hibs 11th home match of this SPL season.  Falkirk are the only team to leave with all three points and that was back in September.  Dunfermline have still to win on the road and have scored only three away goals in capturing their three away points.

Hibs	Dunfermline
Current League Position
5	12
Last 6-Match Form
DWLLWL	LLLDDL
Home/Away Record
P10, W5, D4, L1	P10, W0, D3, L7
Leading Scorers
C Killen (9)	S Crawford (4)

Dunfermline are rank outsiders for this match but their fortunes must change sometime and it would be nice to add to the three away wins so far recorded in 2006 - remember Tannadice, Fir Park and Almondvale?

Recent SPL Form
Hibs Home	W St Mirren 5-1	W Dundee United 2-1	D Celtic 2-2	W Inverness CT 2-0	D Kilmarnock 2-2
Dunfermline Away	D St Mirren 0-0	L Kilmarnock 1-5	L Rangers 0-3	D Hearts 1-1	L Motherwell 1-2

Last Time Out

DUNFERMLINE (v Motherwell): Dorus de Vries; Greg Shields (c), Phil McGuire, Scott Wilson, Darren Young; Freddie Daquin (Owen Morrison 45), Souleymane Bamba (Greg Ross 69), Gary Mason, Scott Muirhead; Jim Hamilton, Mark Burchill
SUBS NOT USED: Roddy McKenzie (GK), Scott Morrison,  Andy Tod, Calum Woods, Iain Williamson
YELLOW CARD: Burchill (25), Wilson (76), McGuire (77)
RED CARD: Hamilton (80)

HIBS ( v Hearts):- Zibigniew Malkowski; Steven Whittaker, Shelton Martis, Rob Jones, David Murphy,  Guillaume Beuzelin, Scott Brown, Michael Stewart, Dean Shiels; Abdessalam Benjouleen, Chris Killen
SUBS  Andrew McNeill,  Jamie McCluskey, Chris Hogg, Stephen Glass, Lewis Stevenson, McCann, Ross Campbell
RED CARD: Shiels (62)

Referee on Saturday will be Iain Brines.  This will be his 12th SPL match of the season.  He has an average yellow card count of four per match and a red every 3.4 matches.  He has officiated only one Dunfermline match this term; the 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Falkirk when Hamilton, Mason, McGuire and Young were all shown yellows. Hibs have had his company three times this season with a draw at Inverness, defeat at Ibrox and a resounding 6-1 win at Fir Park.

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