Hibs anxious to get through safety barrier in crunch game

LAST month’s announcement of the post-split fixtures in the SPL provoked a disappointed reaction in many neutrals. Hibernian versus Dunfermline in the penultimate round of fixtures?

Surely the relegation fight would be over by then?

Hibs were seven points ahead at the time, so such complaints seemed reasonable. But now here we are on the day of the match and the issue is still alive.

True, the gap, which had closed to three points, is back up to five now, but, with two games to play, Dunfermline could yet pull off a remarkable escape. To do so, they would need to win tonight then beat Kilmarnock on Saturday, and Hibs would almost certainly also have to lose to Inverness – the Edinburgh club’s goal difference is currently better by eight, so a draw in that game would probably see Pat Fenlon’s team survive.

So it is a tall order for Dunfermline, but Hibs are taking nothing for granted. Having beaten Aberdeen last Wednesday while their rivals were only drawing at Caley Thistle, they want to finish the issue this evening. A draw would do it, but Fenlon will tell his team to play for the win.

“The good thing is it’s in our hands now,” said striker Roy O’Donovan, who is expected to start tonight in place of the suspended Leigh Griffiths. “A first home victory of the year would be nice against Dunfermline – it would be nice to finish it off.

“You’d rather be in our position than theirs. But, at the same time, they’ve got nothing to lose on Monday, so they’re going to come and give everything, and you’d expect the best performance of the season from Dunfermline.

“So it will be a tough game, but it’s something to look forward to. It’s a chance for us to prove that we deserve to stay up.”

David Wotherspoon is also suspended, while captain James McPake, who missed the win in Aberdeen, is still a doubt because of a groin strain. Garry O’Connor came off early at Pittodrie, having been ill as well as damaging an ankle, but he should be in the starting line-up again.

Griffiths will be a miss, and McPake has been a key player for Hibs since joining, like O’Donovan, on loan from Coventry at the start of the year. But at this stage of the campaign, the outcome is more likely to be decided by the collective spirit of the two teams rather than any individual contribution.

Hibs have improved very slowly but still noticeably, particularly in defence, and, in victory in Aberdeen, displayed the kind of team spirit that was painfully lacking in their play just a couple of months back. But Dunfermline have shown a similar improvement since Jim Jefferies took over as their manager, and they can be guaranteed to go all out to unsettle their rivals.

The clubs have already faced a similar head to head. Back in January, Hibs won 3-2 at East End Park in a game which Dunfermline threw everything into. Many concluded then that the relegation fight had just been decided, and there were more recent times, too, when Hibs must have felt they were on the verge of safety. But O’Donovan, who joined not long after that away win for his team, is full of respect for his rivals.

“When we got to seven points and our goal difference was so good as well,” he said when asked if there had been a time when he thought the battle was won. “But they haven’t chucked it. They’ve been thoroughly professional. I’m expecting a wee performance from them, so it’s going to be a tough game.

“It’s a hard one to play for a draw. We haven’t had the best results at home this year and a lot of the games have been tight, but we’ve been on the wrong side of it by trying to be too safe at times. We can’t afford to be too safe for this game either. It bodes for a good game, I think. They’re going to try and play and they’re going to try and win the game.”

Fenlon’s decision that Hibs should do the same is based not only on the usual football logic that getting a draw is easier if you play for the win. It is also founded on an understanding that his team are far from adept at closing a game down.

That much was obvious at Pittodrie, when they were 2-0 ahead after little more than quarter of an hour, but kept attacking, both then and in the second half after Aberdeen had pulled a goal back. So while neither team is exactly prolific when it comes to scoring, it would be reasonable to expect a shootout like January’s.

Asked if he would settle for a 0-0 draw, O’Donovan could hardly deny that he would accept a result which would preserve his team’s SPL status. But he also suggested that such an outcome was implausible. “Right now I just want to get us safe,” he said. “But I think for some reason it’s going to be a bit more interesting than that.”

More interesting, too, than it promised to be when those post-split fixtures came out just a few weeks ago.