Hibs Classic Match

Hibs 9Rosenborg 1Oct 2, 1974HIBS transformed their European tie against Rosenborg at Easter Road into a shooting gallery and hit the bullseye nine times to the delight of more than 12,000 fans, who were suitably rewarded for turning out on a miserable evening.

Hibs registered their biggest European victory and their highest aggregate (12-3) in mowing down the Scandinavian part-timers – and it remains the Norwegians' record loss to this day.

Hibs had gone into the second leg of this 1974-75 UEFA Cup tie with a 3-2 advantage from the first leg in Norway.

And yet the team from Trondheim had made plenty of noise in the press that they would overturn that deficit in this Wednesday night game.

For three minutes in the first half, Rosenborg's hype began to take on some credence as centre-forward Odd Iversen curled in a perfectly-taken free-kick from outside the box to level the scores on aggregate and lead to jubilation in the Norwegian ranks.

As it turned out, Turnbull's Tornadoes did not need to rely on the European "away goals" rule to progress after the Easter Road side systematically took Rosenborg apart with three goals in four minutes. This burst of fire drained the fight from the Trondheim team, who took their heaviest thrashing in exemplary fashion and never resorted to tough tactics.

Naturally, the spectators shouted for double figures but they still stayed to give goalkeeper Arve Thunshelle a special hand for his contribution.

Hibs manager Eddie Turnbull expressed his satisfaction for a win which came in the wake of a 1-0 home defeat by St Johnstone four days before: "They found the road to goal again after Saturday's blank and continued to entertain right to the end."

Full-back John Brownlie, who had been suffering from an ankle injury, took another knock and left the field with two minutes to go after turning in a superb display.

Alex Cropley, whose son Jordan is on the books at Hibs today, and Alan Gordon schemed the Rosenborg downfall and showed just how it paid to calm the tempo after a hurry-scurry start had led nowhere.

In the second half, Alex Edwards produced some superb passes in what was no more than a one-sided exhibition.

If there was a black spot on Hibs' performance it was the booking of Joe Harper with the score standing at 7-1. The player, who had that year signed for Turnbull for the second time in his career after a disappointing time at Everton, was shown the yellow card for foolish dissension and it's no wonder he was repentant at the finish.

Hibernian: McArthur, Brownlie (Bremner), Schaedler, Stanton, Spalding, Blackley, Edwards, Cropley, Harper, Gordon, Munro.

Rosenborg: Thunshelle, Meicik, Ronnes, Rime, Wormdahl, Didrichsen, Christiansen, Farstad, Iversen, Sunde, Garberg.

Referee: G Haraldson (Iceland).

HERE is the tell-tale timetable as Hibs established their goal record:

19 min: Gordon created an opening for Harper and his right-foot shot made it 1-1.

20 min: Munro ran on to a Harper head flick and scored left-footed from a steep angle.

22 min: Harper again with a header from Munro's cross.

33 min: Munro deceived the keeper with a cross which swerved in the air.

37 min: Stanton picked up a rebound off a shot from Harper to give Hibs a 5-1 half-time lead.

61 min: Cropley smacked in a penalty after Munro was fouled.

69 min: An Edwards cross and a head flick from Gordon made it seven.

80 min: Another penalty when Brownlie was toppled and Cropley cracked it home.

85 min: A Stanton header from Schaedler's cross.