Hibs left bereft by last-gasp double as Falkirk snatch win
Easter Road side were coasting – then the wheels came off
Falkirk win 5-4 on aggregate Falkirk scorers: Alston 13, Leahy 79, McHugh 90+2 Hibernian scorers: Keatings 33, 34
FOOTBALL can be a cruel business. Particularly if you are a Hibs supporter. The good news for the Easter Road club is that they have a full week to prepare for their William Hill Scottish Cup final against Rangers. That is also the bad news, as another night of unrelenting misery for the club and their followers unfolded at the Falkirk Stadium.
The Easter Road club were 2-1 up and apparently coasting when the home side’s continual refusal to submit to their fate brought this six-match battle of wills to an incredible conclusion.
First Luke Leahy fired in a laser of a left foot shot to bring them level, then a long throw from Will Vaulks led to a goal from late goal specialist Bob McHugh with well nigh the last kick of this breathless Premiership play-off second leg which means that it is Falkirk, and not them, who will battle it out with Kilmarnock over two matches for a place in next season’s top flight. If the Easter Road club are to end their 114-year wait for a Scottish Cup win, it will arrive at the only time in the club’s history when they will be exiled from the top tier of the Scottish game for three successive seasons.
This, though, was Falkirk’s night, a fitting end to a season where they have lost fewer matches than any other Championship club. There is also a symmetry that destiny should pit them against the Rugby Park side, who dumped them down to Scotland’s second tier back in May 2010, shortly after manager Steven Pressley had guaranteed their survival.
For so much of this game, Hibs’ 53rd of the campaign, it appeared that James Keatings, a man who took their Edinburgh rivals Hearts back to the big time 12 months ago, was to be Hibs’ lucky charm. He popped up with two priceless goals within a minute as it appeared that karma was coming back to bite Falkirk capt ain David McCracken with a vengeance.
McCracken, you will recall, owed his availability for this match to referee Alan Muir, the match official somehow saving him from the concession of a penalty and a red card for the most obvious of handballs.
Perhaps the football gods disapproved, as Craig Thomson afforded him no such leniency when he lunged in on Keatings here. Falkirk had ascendancy in the tie at 3-2 at that stage but from then on Falkirk had the last laugh.
McCracken took his place at the centre of the Falkirk defence, accompanied by Paul Watson, a move which freed Will Vaulks up to take his preferred place in midfield. Bob McHugh, whose late equaliser got an inadvertent assist by Logan, started ahead of Lee Miller up front, with former Hibee Kevin McCann replacing Tom Taiwo on the bench late on.
Peter Houston’s game plan was to exploit the space left by Hibs’ full backs when they ventured forward and it was working well at first. Four times in the first ten minutes they out-manoeuvred them down the left, leading to Blair Alston corners.
The alarm bells should have been ringing but the next time the home side got down that side they had their noses back in front in the tie. Luke Leahy, a man who came through the Gordon Strachan youth academy and whose Grandad once beat Sugar Ray Robinson in a fight, started things with another clever movement down the left. The ball was funnelled infield this time, from Vaulks into Baird, and soon Alston was the wrong side of his marker, bearing in on goal. His low finish was too good for Logan.
A low John McGinn strike from close range was the visitors’ first effort of note but before long Anthony Stokes was lashing the ball away in frustration, earning a booking which would have put him out of the play-off final first leg if Hibs had got there.
It said something for the mercurial nature of Alan Stubbs’ side that they managed to turn this game in the space of just 60 seconds. Liam Henderson sprung to life with the cutest of cushioned passes with the outside of his right boot to Keatings, who tellingly didn’t attempt a Panenka from the spot kick.
Next it was Stokes’ turn to deliver, swinging a cross onto Keatings’ forehead, which the former Hearts player headed back where it came from, the ball taking an age to reach the corner of Rogers’ net.
You just knew Falkirk weren’t done yet. McCracken headed wide from an excellent position at one end, Leahy sliced over his own bar at the other.
The hosts had used all three subs by the time another sweep of Leahy’s boot brought them back into it. Cummings nearly wrote his name into the history books with a vicious strike of his own which struck the face of the crossbar from 30 yards but the sting in the tail was at the other end. Vaulks’ throw got a flick at the near post and bedlam ensued as McHugh, who had hardly had a sniff all night, lashed in a finish off the post. Football is a cruel business alright. Particularly if you are a Hibs supporter.
Falkirk (4-4-2): Rogers; Muirhead, McCracken, Watson, Leahy; Alston (Shepherd 71), Kerr (Miller 58), Vaulks, Sibbald; Baird (Hippolyte 58), McHugh. Subs not used: Mehmet, McCann, O’Hara, Gallacher Hibernian (4-3-1-2): Logan; Gray, McGregor, Hanlon, Stevenson; McGeouch (Bartley 37), Fyvie, McGinn; Henderson; Stokes, Keatings (Cummings 82). Subs not used: Oxley, Fontaine, Boyle, Gunnarsson, Dagnall Bookings: Falkirk: Muirhead 47. Hibernian: Stokes 21, Hippolyte 90 Referee: C Thomson Attendance: 7851