Substitutions in question but Pat Fenlon can find right answers

GIVEN that this was Hibernian’s fourth defeat in five league games, it is easy to see why some are suggesting they are undergoing a seasonal slump akin to the one they suffered three seasons ago.

SCORERS:

Hibernian 2 - Doyle 41, 55

Motherwell 3 - Murphy 64, 80, McHugh 88

Then, under John Hughes, they were second towards the turn of the year before eventually claiming fourth place only on the final day. This time they are already down to fourth, having been top not so long ago.

So has the rot set in even earlier under Pat Fenlon than it did under the hapless Hughes? Certainly, the two managers have shown a similar tendency to react badly to pressure, with Fenlon having responded tetchily in the aftermath of Saturday’s defeat when it was put to him that taking off both his main strikers might just have contributed to Motherwell’s comeback.

But the circumstances are different this time, both within the club and in the SPL as a whole. That haul of three points from the last 15 is a desperately meagre return, but it is insufficient evidence for any reasonable observer to conclude that Hibs are simply hopeless again.

The bottom line is that it is better to slump from somewhere near the top than to spend the whole season, as they did last year, somewhere close to the bottom. Viewed in that light, Fenlon has still clearly made an improvement during this campaign.

Second, the fact that Hibs are still just three points off second place tells its own story. They have their weaknesses, all right, but so do everyone else. In a pitifully inconsistent league, poor runs can be swiftly rectified.

And perhaps crucially, Fenlon, while prone to make errors, has shown that he can quickly learn from them. He is smarter than Hughes, tougher too, and more sharply focused. In recent weeks he has displayed a greater degree of ease with his role – feeling relaxed enough before the last derby, for instance, to joke about his own lack of composure in the Scottish Cup final. His behaviour on Saturday was a retrograde step, but probably a temporary one.

He will certainly think twice before again withdrawing Leigh Griffiths and Eoin Doyle in order to protect a lead. It was true that, as he suggested, the Motherwell comeback had begun by the time Griffiths went off, but that comeback was made all the easier by his absence up front.

Having struggled to find a cutting edge in the first half, Motherwell found more time in the second to put moves together. Griffiths was not at his best, but he is the one Hibs player who can conjure a goal out of nothing and that talent forces teams to think twice before committing too many men upfield.

Gary Deegan replaced the striker with 20 minutes to go, making his first appearance after nine weeks out with a broken jaw. The Irishman was Hibs’ key player during the first two months of the season and his return is another reason to expect his club’s fortunes to improve. But that return should have been delayed by another week.

When Deegan came on, Jorge Claros dropped behind him in midfield, and Hibs were in a 4-1-4-1 formation. The aim was to clog up the middle of the park but, by that time, Motherwell’s main attacking thrust was coming down both flanks.

Having responded too late in midweek when two goals down to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup, Stuart McCall’s team were able to get back into this match with almost half an hour still to play thanks to one of those forays down the wing. Chris Humphrey got round Ryan McGivern then delivered a low cutback for Jamie Murphy to shoot home from a few yards out.

That goal came less than ten minutes after Doyle had given his team what looked at the time like an unassailable lead when he latched on to a through ball from Paul Cairney to fire a right-foot shot past Darren Randolph from the edge of the penalty area. That strike followed Doyle’s first towards half-time, when he stooped to head in a chipped cross from David Wotherspoon.

Deegan replaced Griffiths not long after Murphy had made it 2-1, and McCall responded a few minutes later with a change of his own, when Bob McHugh came on up front in place of defender Adam Cummins. Doyle was next to come off, with Ross Caldwell taking his place and, within three minutes, Motherwell were level when Michael Higdon headed a corner back across goal for Murphy to nod in almost unopposed. McHugh then somehow failed to put his team in front when he slid in to meet a cross but could only turn the ball away from goal. He made amends, however, two minutes from the end of normal time, gathering a cross from the left by Henrik Ojamaa and shooting past Ben Williams.

In stoppage time James McPake, who had been booked in the first half, was sent off for a second yellow card after clashing with Murphy in the air. The captain was playing his first game back after a month out with a back injury.

That made for a particularly low end to a galling afternoon for Hibs. But once McPake and Deegan start a run of games together, it is still probable that they will recover some, if not all, of the form they enjoyed in the autumn.

Referee: S McLean

Attendance: 8,817