Scottish Cup holders v Aberdeen

[Sheep77]

33 minutes ago, Romeo said:

Christie will be an important player in the final.

Will be against sevco 

[resk]

There are quite a lot of foxes in Glasgow. Stands to reason that they die occasionally, leaving corpses. I'd imagine someone will report it to environmental services and it'll get cleaned up. Over the weekend though? Could be tight.

[G-MAN]

Some hurried thoughts and feelings: 
 

• Shinnie was our MOTM - his pressing and work-rate, especially higher up the pitch in the first half, was imperative to how we started the game. Jack also played pretty well, he didn't waste many passes and did the simple things to a high standard throughout. McLean, although he constantly opened himself up to receiving the ball and looked to make something happen, did not have one of his better afternoons - he just lacked that bit of composure. 
• Hibs made the first half hour too easy for us, which ultimately they could not quite recover from. Thankfully we scored twice in the first 30 minutes, because it is a safe bet that we would not have won that game if we did not convert that initial period of dominance into goals. 
• The entire nature of the game changed when Holt replaced Fyvie, and you would have to conclude from this that Lennon got his initial selection wrong. Our defence did not really adjust to Holt's presence, and Taylor looked all at sea on more than one occasion - most notably at McGeouch's goal. Considine also seemed to struggle with Boyle's pace, and he had an uncharacteristically sloppy afternoon. 
• I was quietly lamenting Hayes for the first 85 minutes of the game. He struggled to make much of an impact and his crossing - along with just about all of his teammates, it should be said - was poor. I'm willing to overlook this for the winning goal, despite it being the jammiest we have scored all season. 
• When Hibs did decide to compete, I thought they were the marginally better team - Holt, Bartley and McGregor (discounting his mistake in the first 10 seconds) all played pretty well. On that evidence, they are in a decent position to come up to the Premiership and compete in and amongst the top six. The top flight will be better for having Hibs back in it. They had an impressive support down, too. 
• Good scenes at both the opener and the winner. Rooney and Christie deserve credit for their finishes in the first half, despite McGregor's slack pass at the first and Marciano's questionable positioning at the second. All of our goals had a slice of fortune attached to them, but I'm not really caring about that at the moment. I thought Christie's free kick had gone wide for a good couple of seconds.
• Although part of me would eventually have found it funny, I don't think I could have coped if Marciano's header in stoppage time had somehow found the net. It is actually a very decent save from Lewis, looking at the replay. 
• Delighted to be in a Scottish Cup Final for the first time in 17 years. I was still a bit too young to appreciate the one in 2000 - probably a good thing, considering the outcome - so I'm just looking forward to experiencing it with Aberdeen in May. Rangers is the preferable tie on paper, but we will have to play better than we did today either way - much better if Celtic are our opponents. 

McLean was immense today.

Jack is not a captain. Evident today when we went into panic mode again. Shinnie rallies the troops and is very vocal. Thought Jack was poor and to blame for their second for not tracking back. (As well as DM for suddenly going to a back 3)

McGinn gave us more attacking threat. There was so much space between Rooney and the midfield. We were getting nowhere.

Why do we continue to play so deep ? It's so frustrating at times.

This team can play some good football but we still aren't mentally there. Haven't got a clue what goes on in their heads. Not the first squad like that either.

[Dons_1988]

Well that was an exhausting occasion.

The way we started was absolutely fantastic, right on top of the hibs kick off and for the next 25 minutes we pushed on. Credit to Rooney for that goal, fantastic first touch and finish.

Christie free kick I thought was brilliant, I'm sure there's criticisms of the hibs defending but great strike nonetheless.

Credit to Lennon, the holt substitution changed the game, ash Taylor was playing well until that point. Holt caused him a lot of problems. We really struggled to get a grip of the game after that.

Mcinnes bringing on o Connor for Christie to go 3 at the back was a disaster, even before the equaliser I thought it was a terrible decision. At least he recognised it and brought McGinn on for reynolds. However, f**k knows what our formation was from there on in.

We got a huge slice of luck for the winner and very grateful for it but feel for the hibees. Was a great performance from them and deserved at least extra time.

Saying all of that, absolutely delighted to have a cup final to look forward to.

[Romeo]

26 minutes ago, throbber said:

I'm actually not sure what game you are trying to play with that comment actually. Look out for the dead fox near the Beechwood bar if you go to the game tomorrow. 

You seem really upset about this dead fox.

[Romeo]

13 minutes ago, resk said:

There are quite a lot of foxes in Glasgow. Stands to reason that they die occasionally, leaving corpses. I'd imagine someone will report it to environmental services and it'll get cleaned up. Over the weekend though? Could be tight.

There are "literally" millions of foxes in Glasgow and the get run over all the time.

[throbber]

2 minutes ago, Romeo said:

You seem really upset about this dead fox.

I'm pretty shocked there isn't a thread about it already. 

[Illgresi]

Thoughts on today:

- Counting House is a joke...won't be going there for the final.

- Bladders are shite. I missed the first goal, and will be fully kitting myself out with Tena Lady for the final.

- There's plenty sound Hibbies about; just a pity certain Dons fans couldn't reciprocate after the final whistle*.

- Hampden's a bawbag of a stadium.

- Our central defence is utterly average. (Been saying this for some time)

- Our attack is one dimensional, bar the odd moment of briliance/luck.

- We played at 60% and beat Hibs playing at near their capacity; I'd expect them to challenge the **** and St. Johnstone for 3rd next season.

- Bartley was MOTM for me, if he's capable of playing like that every week, I'd happily have him in the Dons' squad.

- This was another bottle job for the Dons, except this time we had enough raw ability to win. That wont happen in the final.

- A small part of me wanted the Hibs goalie to score with that header, as it would have constituted a fantastic cup game. Twelve second goal, goal from a spectacular free kick, excellent comeback, later winner...and then possibly a goalie scoring to take it to extra time. We would have lost in extra time probably.

 

*Walking down Cathcart Road saying haha/hibs are shite/do you want a tissue?...at every passing green shirt is quite pathetic imo. Bigot chat.

[Dons_1988]

Thoughts on today:
- Counting House is a joke...won't be going there for the final.
- Bladders are shite. I missed the first goal, and will be fully kitting myself out with Tena Lady for the final.
- There's plenty sound Hibbies about; just a pity certain Dons fans couldn't reciprocate after the final whistle*.
- Hampden's a bawbag of a stadium.
- Our central defence is utterly average. (Been saying this for some time)
- Our attack is one dimensional, bar the odd moment of briliance/luck.
- We played at 60% and beat Hibs playing at near their capacity; I'd expect them to challenge the **** and St. Johnstone for 3rd next season.
- Bartley was MOTM for me, if he's capable of playing like that every week, I'd happily have him in the Dons' squad.
- This was another bottle job for the Dons, except this time we had enough raw ability to win. That wont happen in the final.
- A small part of me wanted the Hibs goalie to score with that header, as it would have constituted a fantastic cup game. Twelve second goal, goal from a spectacular free kick, excellent comeback, later winner...and then possibly a goalie scoring to take it to extra time. We would have lost in extra time probably.

Agree on Bartley thought he did a brilliant job today. What a unit he is.

[Alan Stubbs]

Pish to lose a game on daft mistakes and a jammy winner but I'm over it. Not going to get papped off Celtic in a final or give Rangers a chance of taking away from last year, at least.

Lennon got the lineup wrong. You could say it's unlucky for his gameplan to go out the window after 10 seconds but it was clear from how easily Aberdeen picked up the ball on the half way line against an isolated Cummings for the first half an hour, that we needed Holt badly. Some credit for changing it early but I think if Holt starts, we win that game. 

Congrats Aberdeen, hope you lift the cup if Rangers win tomorrow.

 

 

[throbber]

6 minutes ago, Illgresi said:

Thoughts on today:

- Counting House is a joke...won't be going there for the final.

I stopped reading there. 

[kent_don]

There you go - none in a row!!!!!

[Illgresi]

Just now, throbber said:

I stopped reading there. 

I'm surprised you managed a whole five words...

[jmothecat]

Thoughts on today:
- Counting House is a joke...won't be going there for the final.
- Bladders are shite. I missed the first goal, and will be fully kitting myself out with Tena Lady for the final.
- There's plenty sound Hibbies about; just a pity certain Dons fans couldn't reciprocate after the final whistle*.
- Hampden's a bawbag of a stadium.
- Our central defence is utterly average. (Been saying this for some time)
- Our attack is one dimensional, bar the odd moment of briliance/luck.
- We played at 60% and beat Hibs playing at near their capacity; I'd expect them to challenge the **** and St. Johnstone for 3rd next season.
- Bartley was MOTM for me, if he's capable of playing like that every week, I'd happily have him in the Dons' squad.
- This was another bottle job for the Dons, except this time we had enough raw ability to win. That wont happen in the final.
- A small part of me wanted the Hibs goalie to score with that header, as it would have constituted a fantastic cup game. Twelve second goal, goal from a spectacular free kick, excellent comeback, later winner...and then possibly a goalie scoring to take it to extra time. We would have lost in extra time probably.
 
*Walking down Cathcart Road saying haha/hibs are shite/do you want a tissue?...at every passing green shirt is quite pathetic imo. Bigot chat.

What did Dons fans do after the final whistle? I never noticed anything untoward.

[throbber]

Just now, Illgresi said:

I'm surprised you managed a whole five words...

It was just a joke as I am a well known Wetherspoons enthusiast on here!

I actually read the entire thing, that do you mean about the Dons reciprocating after the final whistle?

[Illgresi]

Just now, jmothecat said:

What did Dons fans do after the final whistle? I never noticed anything untoward.

It was just a group of boys walking near me, generally being poor winners. I'm all for banter, but sticking it in to fans of a team that played that well...embarassing. Had it been ****, fair game.

[Illgresi]

1 minute ago, throbber said:

It was just a joke as I am a well known Wetherspoons enthusiast on here!

I actually read the entire thing, that do you mean about the Dons reciprocating after the final whistle?

I know min! ^

[naegoodinthedark]

Well that was an exhausting occasion.

The way we started was absolutely fantastic, right on top of the hibs kick off and for the next 25 minutes we pushed on. Credit to Rooney for that goal, fantastic first touch and finish.

Christie free kick I thought was brilliant, I'm sure there's criticisms of the hibs defending but great strike nonetheless.

Credit to Lennon, the holt substitution changed the game, ash Taylor was playing well until that point. Holt caused him a lot of problems. We really struggled to get a grip of the game after that.

Mcinnes bringing on o Connor for Christie to go 3 at the back was a disaster, even before the equaliser I thought it was a terrible decision. At least he recognised it and brought McGinn on for reynolds. However, f**k knows what our formation was from there on in.

We got a huge slice of luck for the winner and very grateful for it but feel for the hibees. Was a great performance from them and deserved at least extra time.

Saying all of that, absolutely delighted to have a cup final to look forward to.

This, absolutely this. The second half was as nervous as I've been for years. Was prepared for extra time, but relieved we got the, rather jammy, winner.
Thought both sets of fans were great. Said earlier on this thread that I thought the Hibs fans reaction to going two behind was great. They really got behind them and, along with the fat mess Holt coming on, made a huge difference.
Hope we get Triggers Broom in the final.
On today's showing, the Hibeez will do well next season, and I hope they will set out to finish above both the **** and the diet **** (but behind us).

In conclusion, I fucking love my team, and thank them for a lovely day out behind enemy lines.

[throbber]

You'll get that every game though and its not as if there aren't bad winners in the Hibs support. There was a big fight going on in section F quite near the back among Hibs fans, a good chunk of them got thrown out i think. 

[jmothecat]

I found watching the police a bit amusing today. They all went round the ground any time there was a goal, and stood and stared at supporters. Wasn't really sure what they were expecting to happen.