Ground 8: Fir Park

Friday Night Football under the floodlights

Game: Motherwell 0 v 4 Hibernian

Date: Friday 26^th October 2012

Competition: Scottish Premier League

Attendance: 5,301

Admission: £22

Programme: £3

Friday Night Football. It was trialled on a few occasions last season and it’s becoming a more regular event in all divisions this season. I’m all in favour of it judging by this game. This corresponding fixture all took place on a Friday night the season before but was abandoned at half time due to a fire in a floodlight. This season the game was being televised by ESPN and unlike last season the price of admission wasn’t reduced.

This had no impact on the level of Hibs support who travelled in numbers (amazing what a few wins can do for a club) after their work along the M8 to Lanarkshire. I was one of them, escaping from work on time and arriving in Motherwell just before 7.30.

Fir Park floodlights from a distance

The night did not get off to the best of starts – I arrived at the turnstile ten minutes before kick-off and saw great big queues for all gates. Although there was stewards around they didn’t seem to be taking a proactive approach to their role, they seemed overwhelmed by the number of Hibs fans. Still I thought I’d arrived in plenty of time to make it into Fir Park, however I was mistaken. It was taking an age for each person to get through the turnstile, for reasons that seemed beyond comprehension. When I reached the front of the queue I handed over my £22 only for the guy behind the glass to write down on both sides of the ticket how much I paid. This seemed like an entirely pointless exercise. I’m sure there was a good reason for this but it meant that I missed the first five minutes of the game which is not good enough for an SPL club. Getting into a ground should be the easiest process in the world, yet for Motherwell it wasn’t.

It’s at this point I should address something that riled me when I was queuing. Without doubt all clubs have fans who after some drink is taken are not the most pleasant. However, Hibs have a significant minority who sing some fairly tasteless ditties. The sound under the stand whilst we were all queuing sounded fantastic, however, I find the “Rudi Skacel is a f***ing refugee” chant particularly tasteless and not in the slightest bit amusing. Skacel, in the news that day because he’d signed a short-term contract with Dundee United (and chose 51 as his squad number. 5-1 get it?). I just find the song crass, unfunny and a stunning lack of self-awareness from fans of a club who were formed by Irish immigrants.

I took a seat directly behind the goal in the lower tier of Fir Park’s South Stand and it was at this point I realised three things: 1) it was cold. 2) the Fir Park pitch has a funny slant to it and 3) bloody hell, it really was cold.

On the evidence of tonight’s game, Friday night football seems to work. Games under floodlights are always a bit special and both sets of fans were in boisterous mood. Any warmth towards Motherwell’s noisy fans soon dissipated when the drum started up. A drum...

Fir Park is an odd ground. The South Stand that was hosting the Hibs fans is a two-tier monster. The north and east stand are single tiered and the main stand is an old fashioned grandstand that runs for two thirds of the way up the touchline. I think it would be fair to describe Fir Park as a tired looking ground. There was a PA system in the South Stand which is inaudible. You know it’s on but you can’t hear a thing coming out of it. This has been a problem for clubs in recent years: do you spend any spare cash you have on improving your infrastructure or do you spend it on strengthening your playing squad? I can understand the latter, but I have public safety concerns for some grounds if they continue to neglect their infrastructure.

Motherwell started brightly, especially their Estonian forward Henrik Ojamaa. However, it was Hibs who took the lead through David Wotherspoon. Wotherspoon has been a revelation this season, replicating the form he produced when he first appeared in the Hibs team in 2009. His strike from outside the box was a cracker. The rest of the half saw Motherwell on top. I genuinely believed at that point it would be a miracle for Hibs to keep a clean sheet. There was a form of a miracle as Motherwell at one stage clearly had the ball over the line for it to be clamoured away by Ben Williams. As I was directly behind the goal it was hard to tell if it had gone in but within minutes I received a text saying the ball was at least two feet behind the goal. How the linesman hadn’t noticed this I’m not sure but us Hibs fans in the South Stand were grateful.

Half-time came with Motherwell continuing to assert their control on the match. As I’d come straight from work I decided to get myself some tea. Big mistake as there was only appeared to be two kiosks open and the whole catering area was absolutely rammed as I opened the door. I weighed up the chances of queuing and still seeing the start of the second half and returned to my seat. I know it’s difficult for clubs to estimate how many travelling fans will attend a game but Motherwell just did themselves out of fiver from me and who knows how many other fans.

Not sure what these structures are

At the start of the second half Motherwell continued to dominate Hibs and Hibs were helping them by backing off the whole time almost asking Motherwell to attack. This didn’t seem to bother some elements of the away support who began singing their new song to the tune of Football’s Coming Home – “They’re going bust, they’re going bust, the Hearts are going bust”, this was timely due to the news breaking on the way to the ground that their city rivals will be facing a tax bill to the tune of £1.75 million. It’s amazing to see how much technology is advancing news in football – everyone is the ground with a smart phone was able to receive news about Hearts’ latest woes as were they able to see Motherwell’s first half strike cross the line.

Higdon's penalty

The game then changed in a dramatic few minutes. Hibs cleared their lines and broke quickly with Leigh Griffiths taking the ball into the box and rounding Well keeper Darren Randolph who brought him down for a penalty. Griffiths duly dispatched the ball into the net to put Hibs 2-0 up. Minutes later Motherwell had a chance to get back into the game when James McPake was judged to have fouled Well striker Michael Higdon by climbing over him to get to the ball. On watching the replay I would probably say the referee got the decision correct but equally we’ve all seen those sort of decisions not been given. Higdon took the penalty and blasted high, with it hitting the top of the cross bar and deflecting higher – we couldn’t see this subtle hit at the other end of the pitch and it just looked like Higdon had skied his effort.

Hibs then marched up the pitch and won themselves another penalty, albeit in controversial circumstances. Wotherspoon was brought down by Stevie Hammell and it was adjudged to be inside the box although television replays showed that he was clearly outside the box. Not the finest night for the officials at Fir Park. Griffiths stood up again and coolly put the ball where had previously – to the goalkeeper’s left in the side netting where it’s virtually unsavable. Being 3-0 up Hibs started playing with a bit of swagger, Paul Cairney showing why he’s been fantastic since joining from Partrick Thistle in the summer.

In what had been a terrible night for referee Stevie O’Reilly as he had to be replaced due to injury by Iain Brines. The game looked like it was petering out when Wotherspoon crossed the ball late on for young Hibs substitute Danny Handling to bundle the ball into the net to make it 4-0, a scoreline that didn’t really reflect the game and was harsh on a good Motherwell team.

Leaving the ground I was struck once again that this was a Hibs team to be proud of. They’re grafters that don’t go missing in games and they’re harder than they were last year. Players like Claros and Wotherspoon looked like they’ve been transformed whilst new signings like Cairney and Taiwo in midfield have slotted right in. The only concern for Hibees is that if loan signing Griffiths continues to bang in goals, he’ll have a lot more suitors come January. Keeping Griffiths is essential if Hibs want to be in contention for European places at the end of the season.

Friday night football on this occasion was a great success – a busy stadium, lots of atmosphere and a cracking game under the lights. If this season was meant to be Armageddon for Scottish football then a lot of clubs will be requesting it every year!