Fenlon laments Easter Road team’s inability to stick to ‘gameplan’

Published on Thursday 23 February 2012 03:14

HIBERNIAN manager Pat Fenlon called for his team to “show more balls” in adversity after watching them concede four goals in 28 second half minutes to lose 4-3 at Motherwell. The loss leaves him with only one victory from 12 Scottish Premier League matches in charge of a Leith club who remain joint-bottom of the table with Dunfermline.

Fenlon was left watching a re-run of previous collapses after his keeper Graham Stack clattered Henrik Ojamaa in the 47th minute to gift the home team a penalty. It proved the turning point in an encounter Hibs were then leading through an 18th minute Isaiah Osbourne strike. “We’ve got to have more balls when we concede goals and stick at it, stick to the shape, the game plan,” Fenlon lamented. “The gameplan worked really well in the first half, why go away from that two minutes in to the second half? But that’s what we did, we went away from what we did really well in the first half.

“We killed ourselves tonight. Motherwell played well, but we didn’t clear our lines, didn’t follow the ball on one-twos, and made rash challenges when players should have stayed on their feet.

“When we conceded in the second half we did get a little bit edgy but when you are at the bottom end of the table for so long it tends to be a bit like that. I can’t fault the players for their effort or work-rate but after playing well in the first half, it was about keeping them quiet and giving them nothing to get their teeth into. Then we gave them the incentive of a penalty and got everybody up for it. Then we got back into the game at 2-2 and I thought ‘right, let’s see it out, get a point, it is a good result here’ but we couldn’t do that.”

Motherwell counterpart Staurt McCall admitted he felt sorry for Hibs in them having come away with nothing after putting so much into a “cracking”, “open” match. He hailed hat-trick scorer Michael Higdon, who sandwiched a thunderous overhead kick between two penalty conversions. “Even if he hadn’t scored, I would have said he did everything a centre-forward should. I think the groundsman will still be filling in the hole where he hit the overhead kick. I worried for his back, his neck, his everything when I saw him cranking up for it.”

McCall refused to contemplate overhauling Rangers, who are now only three points above his side, with an assignment at Celtic Park awaiting them this weekend. Instead, he concentrated on the fact that Hearts and St Johnstone are now 12 points behind his Motherwell side. “We’ve lost 4-0 each time we have played at Celtic in my time, I hope with our current form we can give a better account of ourselves. But there is no more difficult game for us,” McCall said.

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16

dmarr1293

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 04:40 PM

oh and firstgreen, numpty dreamer as usual !!!

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15

dmarr1293

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 04:39 PM

vladhibs.....................and when would the end be exactly? If the "end" actually exists............................

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14

dmarr1293

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 04:36 PM

Fenlon laments Easter Road team’s inability to stick to ‘gameplan’ Has he had a game plan since he got to fester road? unless the game plan is to make sure you lose by the final whistle ! In that case they are sticking to the game plan !! And the previous managers also had a similar game plan. He's got an irish last name so probably getting a longer period of time to get things right. When will they realise he is spot on right at the moment.

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13

Jake MacBagpipe

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 04:16 PM

#3 An admirable far-sighted approach, Sir, displaying an astute financial awareness rarely seen on these threads, and unrestrained by anything resembling rational thought.. I'm sure both clubs will benefit magnificently from your scenario, both finacially and on the pitch. Wonder why we all didn't think that...

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12

CASHKING7

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 03:44 PM

Aye grunts if your team had played half as well as Hibs against Motherwell you might have got something from the game, but oh right enough you didn't. crow as much as you like but your lot are not any better just now.

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11

Portsmouth 657

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 03:40 PM

#8 there are various insignificant things we haven't won recently

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10

C4miles

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 03:26 PM

Definite signs of improvement with the team at times worth watching, These guys brought in are all decent players but they need to produce a couple of wins soon, Killie away is a hard game but if they play as they did Wed while keeping defence tight you never know, A decent run is all it will take.

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9

Hen Broon

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 09:39 AM

First green.... there is a lot we have got: are getting wrong but that does not include beating Hibs hence I can see where your confidence is coming from.....IE Hibs got to win sometime!

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8

First Green

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 09:09 AM

#6 while Hearts have got everything right especially transparent accounting,stadium development and loads of cups and leagues won )50 years without a LC for example).

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7

First Green

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 09:06 AM

One win in twelve is bad at any time (was that not Hearts record at end of last season?) but doesn`t reflect improvement in team (organistaion,commitment etc) and last two games were always going to be tough ones. Killie,St M and Hearts should be easier ones and all are winnable. Sometimes to improve, you have to go back before you go forward and that is what is happening here. Already looking forward to Fenlon`s team charging up league table next season.

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6

Portsmouth 657

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 08:56 AM

#2 hibs haven't actually got anything right now since 1952 to be accurate. Nice dream though.

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5

Away Down in Gorgie

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 08:17 AM

To be fair to Hibs it looks like they made a better game of it that we did last Saturday. However it's another defeat from a winning position at ht and Fenlon's record deserves to be criticised. 1 win in 12 is shocking tbh.

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4

Baldrick

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 08:09 AM

I commend the loyalty of the Hibs away support. Genuinely. Beyond that, the conservative approach of the Hibs board has led to 60 years of utter mediocrity and that is an absolute fact.

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3

Gorgierules

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 07:59 AM

2 And what wages are the players missing exactly? Yer gawin doon and I hope we end up in the bottom 6 to ensure this happens!

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2

vladhibs

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 07:21 AM

I hope the players are hurting like the fans at the moment but I just can't see it, as long as they get their wages (oops sorry yaks) and can swan about on the golf course or in the bookies every afternoon then why should they bother really, why should WE bother really? Because we are Hibernian supporters and know we will get it right in the end

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