Due to too much beer and lack of communication, we have ended up with two match reports from the Hibs game, so have decided to publish both…

For the second time in less than a fortnight, we made the journey north of the border for a pre-season friendly. This time, it was the nation’s capital Edinburgh the ALS coaches pulled in to, for the last stop before the serious stuff begins.

The weather wasn’t great, so we decided against a trip to the zoo and instead went for a few whiskeys, before around 2000 of us piled into Easter Road.

This was the last chance for Bruce to assess his players’ form and fitness ahead of the Liverpool game, and the team he puts out at Anfield probably won’t be too different from this.

Hibs have already started their actual season, so I’m not too sure why they were playing a friendly, but it meant that it should be more of a challenge.

The aforementioned line-up was thus:
Mig,
Bardo, Ferdinand, Brown, Richardson;
Larsson, Gardner, Catts (c), Colback;
Sess, Gyan

On a dull, cloudy and wet Scottish day (is there any other kind), Sessegnon was once again the bright spot in the opening exchanges, twice showing lovely skills to leave Hibs’ players feeling like it was they who’d been drinking the whiskey.

The first ‘real’ chance of the game fell to Baby Jet; Seb Larsson whipped in a corner and his downward header bounced up and over the bar, when he perhaps should have scored.

That was about as good as it got though, and as we went into half-time with the game still goalless and not a lot of action to talk about, we went in search of something a bit stronger than Irn-Bru and a bit tastier than haggis, perhaps a deep-fried Mars Bar.

A couple of half-chances either way started the second half, before Richardson picked up a knock and was replaced by Elmo, who slotted in at right back with Bardo switching over to the left. More concerning than Rico’s injury was the number of seagulls flying around – much more of a threat than Hibs looked at that point.

Gyan jinked his way past a couple of defenders before forcing a corner, which came to nothing with the exception of some fresh faces. Turner, Vaughan and Jiiiii coming on for Gardner, Gyan and Cattermole. The usual head-hurting position changes were as follows: Ferdinand to right back, Turner to centre back, Elmo to right wing, Colback and Vaughan in the centre, Seb out on the left, Ji up front with Sess. And breathe.

Another change followed minutes later – Wickham replacing the (again) lively Sessegnon – but thankfully this didn’t lead to any positional changes.

We continued to press, with good play coming down both flanks, but the end product continued to lack and we struggled to carve out anything that had the ‘ooh’ factor – although Ji could perhaps have done better with one or two of them.

Laing replaced Bardsley with five minutes to go, which meant Ferdinand went to left back (meaning he played all three defensive positions during the game) with the youngster Laing going to right back.

The full time whistle went, and as the game ended so too did our pre-season. The rain had dampened our spirits and our hopes of ending the pre-season with a bang. That was that, and now it’s finally time to look forward to the serious stuff. About bloody time, me thinks.

Final score: 0-0

ALS MOTM: Sess, yet again. A dull day and a dull game, but never a dull moment when the brilliant Benin-ite (?) was on the ball.

James Hunt

Hibernian would provide the opposition for our final pre-season game on a wet and busy day in Edinburgh.

The first weekend of the Fringe, Scotland playing Ireland in a rugby World Cup warm-up match and our fixture at Easter Road made our arrival and travel a bit of a challenge. When we finally parked the ALS bus up it turned out to be about a mile from the ground which was a bit of an annoyance, but we plodded along merrily to find the first pub we could and I had a nice pint of Tennent’s and a packet of Golden Wonder crisps, because I was in Scotland. I then went next door to a café where I enjoyed a square sausage sandwich. Fat-man tourism completed it was time to head over to the glorious Easter Road.

Upon arrival I realised that I may have been expecting too much, it wasn’t that glorious, they hadn’t even built any corners. Stood about in the rain for a bit and finally was allowed to buy my ticket and head inside for the game.

We lined up like this
Mig
Bardo Brown Ferdy Rico
Seb Catts Gardener Jack
Sess
Asa

Mig’s kit obviously clashed with the Hibs kit too much and he came out in a training top with a crudely printed number one on the back. I’m aware that I’m talking about the goalkeepers’ kit while the match is going on but that gives you an indication of just what a rubbish game it was.

There were a few chances in the first half with Gyan heading just over and Larsson flashing another header across goal. The main talking point was probably the three or four spiky challenges that flew in, it all started with what looked like an elbow to Cattermole who despite bleeding from his head was looking to get up and have a scrap over it. That resulted in what appeared to be a two footed challenge from Gardener which was closely followed by another suspiciously lunging challenge from Bardo. The game threatened to boil over for a little bit but rather boringly everyone kept calm.

At half time the man with the microphone informed the fans travelling by train that their special service had been cancelled and that they would have to return on another southbound train and to change at Newcastle. Could spell some serious trouble like there was a couple of years ago, I’ll wait to see the news tomorrow morning.

Into the second half and it started to pour down with rain, news reached us of the weather back home and how the Mag’s game had been abandoned. Perhaps trouble could be avoided

We were probably a little bit brighter with Larsson and Bardo working well together on the right, but there were no real chances to speak of. The game then seemed to just stop for a minute, it was weird, I think it was just because Rico wanted to come off and be replace by ‘Ahmed El Mandy’ as the announcer put it, but then after the substitution there seemed to be some remonstrating between the players, basically, I’ve no idea what happened.

A few more substitutions followed with the woeful Cattermole, the quite good Gardner and the clearly not fit enough Gyan being replaced by Turner, Vaughan and Ji. There was a bit of shuffling and Ferdy went to right back, Colback came inside, Elmo went to the right wing, Larsson went onto the left side and Sess pushed further forward.

We created a few more chances after that; Vaughan whipped in a good cross which Elmo nearly got on the end of and Sess forced a good save from their keeper. Wickham then came on for Sess which gave us a bit more direction.

The chance of the afternoon fell to Ji who was found by Elmo after he beat two men and cut it back. Ji had all the time in the world to pick his spot as he stood unmarked on the edge of the six yard box with the ball at his feet, instead he turned around and looked for a pass. Far too unselfish.

That was pretty much it as far as the football goes, it really was a game to forget.

ALS Man of the Match: Seb Larsson for his work rate and deliveries, shame there was no one on the end of them.

Final Score: Very 0-0

Adam Capper

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