Hibs vs Aberdeen

Is it just me or has there been a *lot* of football played this week? I think there have been something like 12 games in seven days. We don’t mind of course, but you have to wonder just how much football the average fan can take (financially) in a week. And again, it might be just me, but Celtic always seem to be playing (and beating) Kilmarnock these days?

The Mighty AFC where in action as well this week. On Saturday we lost to Dundee United for the second time this season. The first half performance was pretty poor – two defensive blunders costs us two sloppy goals, but we picked it up in the second half, with the Dons playing some cracking football. In the end, Darren Mackie got on the end of a Sone Aluko cross, but it was all too little, too late: Sandazo and Feeney’s first half goals where enough for United as they moved into a deserved third spot, some 4,982 points behind the Old Firm.

Three days later, on Wednesday, St. Mirren came to town, also for the second time in the season. At the end of August, another goal by Darren Mackie secured a 1-0 win, and only our second win of the season. On Tuesday though, in what was one of the dullest games we’ve ever seen, it took 80 minutes before we finally secured the three points. Andrew Considine and Sone Aluko got on the scoresheet against the undisputed 0-0 draw kings of the league. It wasn’t a pretty game by any means, and the good play we saw in the second half against United was completely absent here. Nevertheless, the win got us three points and a move up into the top half of the table for the first time this season. It sure wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take the points.

So on Saturday we’re off to Edinburgh for a game against the Hibees. We’re still without an experienced back-up keeper as Bertrand Bossu is still out, and concerns around Tommy Wright’s fitness abound as we head toward the January transfer window. The former Darlington player has only made 5 appearances for the club so far this season but has yet to play a full match – he’s either been substituted or has come on as a substitute on all those games.  Jamie Smith and Stuart Duff are also out, so the team making the journey south will probably the same as the one that faced St. Mirren in mid-week: Langfield, Mulgrew, Foster, Diamond, Considine, Young, Severin, Kerr, Aluko, Miller and Mackie.

Our games against Hibs last season where high-scoring, if nothing else. We played them twice at Easter Road, drawing one (3-3) and losing one (3-1). Mixu Paateleinen’s team have lost two games in a row, their midweek defeat to Dundee United following on from a home defeat against Inverness Caley. It’s not beyond Aberdeen to take something from this game, even a win perhaps. While our home form has been keech, our away form has shown signs of promise: there where spells in the games against Hearts, Dundee United and Celtic where we where playing some nice football. In our previous  meeting with Hibs this season, two goals from one of Hibs’ two dangermen, Derek Riordan, secured all three points for the Edinburgh side in the 2-1 defeat; Lee Miller scored from the penalty spot just before the break. We also had Charlie Mulgrew sent off in that game.

For the stats then: it’s the 241st meeting between the two sides in the league. We’ve won 103 of those, Hibs 79. Should we win and Hearts lose away to Caley, we could move into fourth spot behind Dundee United. If we’re to get anything out of this game we need to make sure we don’t self destruct defensively like we did against United the other week. We’ll probably end up with that 1-3-4-2 setup that Calderwood is so keen on, with Mackie and Miller up front (the two linked up well against St. Mirren), Saluko and de Visscher wide – it’s anyone’s guess who’ll be in midfield. McDonald and Kerr are obvious if Severin is the ‘1′ at the back. As long as it’s not Foster and Young, whose performances of late in those positions have been adequate if not convincing. At the back, it’ll probably be Considine, Diamond and Mair.

Like most games involving Aberdeen, it’s hard to predict how this will turn out. The Dons generally take a while to warm into a game, with our best performances in our last two games coming in the second half. Paateleinen will be gunning for a win on home turf in front of a skeptical support, so we have to make sure we keep a clean sheet till after the break, or at least try and hit Hibs on the break.

We think this will be a draw.

Category: Team News

Tags: Aberdeen, Hibernian, Team News

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