Hibs 1 - 0 NEC Nijmegen: Riordan enjoys timely arrival

Having landed in the Netherlands only a few hours earlier after being granted compassionate leave by coach John Hughes, the bouncing 6lb 15oz Ruby having made her way into this world as his team-mates prepared to fly out, Riordan wasted no time in announcing his own arrival after coming off the bench.

Barely ten minutes had elapsed when fellow substitute Anthony Stokes was felled 25 yards out, presenting the striker with the sort of situation he relishes. Spotting NEC Nijmegen goalkeeper Gabor Babos take a fatal step in the wrong direction, Riordan "reversed" his strike, sending the ball dipping over the defensive wall and into the opposite corner of the net.

To the small band of Hibs fans who had made their way to the Sportpark De Wilgendaal in Herpen on the outskirts of Nijmegen it came as little surprise, but something of a shock to Jack De Gier, the former Dunfermline striker who is now an assistant coach at the Eredivisie outfit.

Admitting he had never even heard of Riordan far less his prowess in such situations, he said: "Our goalkeeper took a step too far to his left and it killed him. Up until then neither side had created a chance."

To that extent De Gier was right, both sides having indulged in a game of cat-and-mouse, prodding and probing for an opening which, with 73 minutes gone didn't look like coming until Riordan's intervention.

As always, results count for little in pre-season matches, but following a 3-0 demolition at the hands of Heracles in their opening match, Hibs restored more than a little belief in their own ability and the philosophy of manager John Hughes and his assistant Brian Rice of how they see football being played.

Huge fans of Dutch football, both Hughes and Rice had admitted that while disappointed in their own team's performance three days earlier, they also had to applaud the manner in which a side which had finished sixth in the Eredivisie last season, had taken Hibs apart.

The intervening period had been spent both on the training ground and in reviewing the video evidence of Friday night, time which appeared to have been put to good effect with Hibs looking more assured and comfortable while displaying a greater awareness of what was being asked of them.

If goal-scoring opportunities on either side were few and far between, it was an engaging contest, NEC, while having finished a disappointing 13th in their league last season, showing plenty of the qualities which had taken them to the last 32 of the Europa League the year before.

Matching that achievement is, of course, partially the reason for Hibs' intensive programme in Holland, with games against Ado Den Haag and Vitesse Arnhem to follow before Hughes' squad returns ready, it is to be hoped, to face either Videoton of Hungary or Slovenia's Maribor only five days later in the Europa League.

To that end proceedings on this side of the North Sea have been geared to the first leg of that third round qualifying tie with Rice flying out on Thursday morning to take in the return game in Slovenia, the outcome as yet uncertain following a 1-1 draw in Hungary.

While, to most onlookers, it appeared as if Hughes and Rice had devised a 4-5-1 system designed to engineer, at worst, a 0-0 scoreline when Hibs travel on 29 July, the assistant manager insisted it was a much more flexible arrangement, saying: "It can be 4-3-3, 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1, there's a lot of rotation in midfield, there is no set formation. We were disappointed in the way we played against Heracles but we looked back on video highlights on things we could improve and in two days we worked at it."

Rice agreed, of course, that Hibs were by far from the finished article based on a single result but both he and Hughes, while agreeing it was always more pleasant to win than lose, would have been delighted at restricting NEC to no more than a couple of half-chances even if they didn't create too much themselves, although Stokes passed up a glorious opportunity to double their lead with only a couple of minutes remaining.

He said: "The big point is the boys have to buy into what we want to achieve. There's no point five or six doing so, we need everyone.

"The game against Heracles asked questions, we worked over the weekend and the boys have taken it on board. I think our organisation was much better when we didn't have the ball which was evident. I think everyone knows we want to copy the Dutch in certain aspects of our game and we've been speaking to a lot of people over here to get their thoughts on how to do it.

"You need to be in possession of the ball to dictate the game and I think that's what we did. We want to get them to cause other teams problems."

Hibs certainly looked far more assured, particularly when Dutch signing Edwin de Graaf moved off the right touchline into a more central role although, as Rice pointed out, the midfield slowly gained the confidence to drift around, allowing the full-backs, Michael Hart and Ian Murray, to get down the flanks to make maximum use of a wide pitch in the sort of sports centre in which Holland rejoices, facilities of which we can only dream of in Scotland.

The main pitch, one of three at this particular complex, had pop-up sprinklers for goodness sake - can you imagine that at Saughton Enclosure, the Jack Kane Centre and so on?

The sprinklers created a cooling effect for the on-lookers at half-time, the mercury having touched 30C as the game kicked off at 7.00pm local time, the heat such that referee Tom Van Sichem readily agreed to a break 25 minutes into each half to allow the players to enjoy a much-needed drink.

A sensible approach and one which, if rather strange, didn't surprise Rice. He said: "I was over here a couple of years ago watching Gronigen against Nijmegen in an Eredivisie match and they stopped the match for the same thing. It was the first time I had seen it but it makes sense."

Hibs: Stack, Hart (Thicot 70), Hogg, Hanlon (Stephens 70), Hogg, Murray (Stevenson 70), De Graaf, Miller (Galbraith 75), McBride, Rankin (Riordan 63), Wotherspoon (Currie 70), Nish (Stokes 63), Subs unused: Brown.

Referee: Tom Van Sichem.