This is how it feels (Rijeka 12 08 21)

Where do I start after that? Getting level on the night, looking good for a second goal and then came six minutes of madness that ended with us 3-1 and a man down. We can look back at the first leg and rue all the chances missed but the fact is we went into this second leg in good form and against a team that looked pretty average in that first leg. That all changed following the dismissal of Darren McGregor. I love that man, but his second yellow was a crushing blow to our chances, and we paid a heavy penalty for it.

I apologise now for the following summary of my views on the game itself as I, like anyone watching on Premier Sports, struggled to follow the game well, due to very poor camera coverage. I was on the edge of my seat, not because the game was a thriller but because I had to get closer to my TV screen to see if that would help. Nor, incidentally, was I on the edge of my seat marvelling at the cauldron of noise we were promised. Their fans were barely as loud as the Livingston Ultra’s and if you’d ejected the drummer, you’d have had to turn up the volume on your TV to hear the Rijeka massive.

The game started relatively slowly with both sides offering little in an attacking sense. One thing that did become very apparent early on was the hosts’ liking for a diagonal ball to their wide men. That caused problems for our two full backs whilst our forward forays usually came by playing through the thirds. Ironically, they seemed to like the long ball approach their manager accused Hibs of.

To be fair to Rijeka they were the better side in the first half with Abass causing McGinn all sorts of problems down their left but thankfully his final ball was dreadful for the most part. Hibs created a couple of chances of their own with both Murphy and Nisbet testing their goalkeeper with low curling efforts that were heading for the far post. A couple of poor challenges allowed the hosts to fire in two free kicks, the first just clearing the bar and the second hitting the Hibs wall.

With ten minutes of the first half left, Rijeka took the lead when Abass finally delivered a decent ball into the middle and Pavicic found acres of space in the box to drill the ball home. I have to say I felt McGinn turning his back on the cross and McGregor’s failure to mark the area the ball was delivered into was schoolboy stuff.

Right on half time, Porteous had a rush of blood when trying to cut out a through ball but missing it completely. The ball reached Abass around twelve yards out and only a last ditch tackle by McGinn kept the tricky winger getting a shot on goal. That block spun favourably for the Rijeka man who fired a fierce second effort on target, kept out by a fantastic save by Macey.

Hibs made no changes at half time and started the second period in a positive way. They were winning more of the ball and keeping it better by good movement, especially in the midfield area. Around ten minutes in, a poor attempted clearance by Galovic saw the ball deflect into the path of Kyle Magennis who quickly strode towards goal before firing a lovely left footed drive across their keeper and into the far corner of the net. It was a deserved equaliser and Hibs looked far more engaged at that point, enjoying the better possession for the next ten minutes or so.

Sadly, that’s when the wheels fell off. In the right back position, McGregor dallied in clearing the ball, allowing Pavicic to win the ball and set off to go past the big defender who pulled him back and earned a stupid yellow card which, being his second of the game brought the inevitable red card and reduced Hibs to ten men just when we looked as though we were getting on top. From the resultant free kick, the referee awarded a corner with Macey and his team mates arguing that the keeper had not touched the ball as it sailed beyond the far post. The protests were ignored and from that corner, Hibs conceded again when Abass’ kick slipped into the net at Macey’s front post with no Hibs man covering that area.

Jack Ross decided he had to change things and brought Gogic on to sit in central defence; Murphy giving way but worse was yet to come for the visitors when a cross from the right saw McGinn sleeping when Abass attempted to get in front of him. The Rijeka player didn’t touch the ball which hit McGinn on the head and flew past Macey.

This was becoming painful to watch as the men in green were in total disarray and the final nail in the coffin came when substitute Busnja waltzed past a static Porteous before side stepping Doig and rolling the ball past the diving Macey. Within the space of twenty minutes my hopes turned to despair following the dismissal of McGregor and the total inability of Hibs to avoid capitulating.

The players

Macey – Should be raging at his team mates because he conceded four goals due to their errors. His first half save from Abass was a good one.

McGinn – Paul has been getting a bit of stick of late and I’ve felt that to be largely unfair but tonight I’m afraid he’ll be deserving of the flak. Turned his back for the first goal and fell asleep at the third. It would be unfair of me though not to praise his last ditch challenge right on half time.

Porteous – More than a little bit shaky at times he was culpable of charging forward and then losing the ball on more than one occasion. Also, he was like a statue when the Rijeka man waltzed past him for the fourth goal.

McGregor – For the first half hour I thought he was immense and then he was napping a bit for the first goal. His stupidity and getting a second yellow is simply inexplicable to me. A seasoned professional should not be caught out that way and I’m afraid his rashness basically cost us the game because we were a shambles with only ten men on the park.

Doig – Like McGinn, Josh had to deal with the constant use of the diagonal ball by Rijeka. For the most part he did ok but having said that he, like McGinn, allowed far too many crosses into our box.

Boyle – Martin was starved of possession for large periods of the game but when he did get the chance to create, he made a few worthy contributions. Unusually, he was not targeted for rough treatment tonight.

Doyle-Hayes – The laddie showed up well in that midfield position and demonstrated once again his willingness to give and receive the ball in tight situations.

Newell – I felt our midfield did well until losing a man and a second goal and Joe was in the thick of it throughout. He seems to have picked up a habit of getting booked a lot although I thought tonight’s yellow was a bit harsh.

Magennis – What a sweet strike for the goal. Kyle was involved in most of our positive play tonight and wins my man of the match award.

Murphy – Jamie was so unlucky with his effort on the half hour and I thought he played pretty well throughout.

Nisbet – Kev struggled against their giant centre half and although Magennis did his level best to get up front to help him the central defenders were pretty much in control throughout.

Gogic – I don’t like him as a central defender and thought he demonstrated why tonight.

Campbell – Never got a chance to show much of anything.

Jack Ross – Disappointment should be his main reaction, but I hope too that he is angry with those players who let us down tonight. I should add – 2-1 down and he replaced Murphy with Gogic – bizarre.

The referee – The Lithuanian was largely ok.