The good, the bad, and the ugly from Hibs win over Killie

The 1-0 win over Kilmarnock will not live long in the memory, but it was an important outcome for Nick Montgomery’s side, who were in need of an overdue victory. For the second time in two outings, Josh Campbell was on the scoresheet, this time proving to be the matchwinner as he fired home the only goal of a stuffy 90 minutes.

Here, we look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from Hibs’ final Premiership match before the international break.

The good – Boyle’s excellent impact, two in two for Campbell

A midweek breather seemed to work wonders for Martin Boyle, who was consistently Hibs’ most threatening attacking player on Saturday. He had a goal ruled out for offside, went down a little too easily when clean through, then, ultimately, provided a terrific assist for Campbell to slide home the only goal of the afternoon.

There was, perhaps, even more fluidity than usual about Hibs’ forward line, but the most significant problems they caused Kilmarnock was Boyle driving through central areas. All three of the above examples had the Australia international breaking through the middle of the pitch, and it was an effective counter to Kilmarnock’s aggressive pressing tactics.

Derek McInnes explained his post-match press conference that he did not want his team to invite Hibs onto them for 90 minutes, and instead felt Kilmarnock’s best chance of victory was to get after them. The Rugby Park manager picked his ‘best pressing team’, and sought to lure Hibs into carefully-set traps throughout the first half, especially.

For a not inconsiderable period of time, it worked well. With Hibs going short from goal-kicks to try and entice Kilmarnock onto them, and the visitors waiting until the ball went into midfield before springing to press, there was somewhat of an impasse at times, as both sides waited on the other to make their move. Naturally, though, the onus is on the team with the ball to be proactive, and there were several occasions where Killie robbed a Hibs player of the ball, or harried one into making a poor  pass.

But despite that initial success, the risks in the approach did not diminish, and, gradually, Hibs found ways around it. Pushing midfielders high to press can end up leaving gaps where a defensive midfielder would usually sit, and they can be easily exploited if the opponent switches off, or is not set properly to press.

As the first-half progressed, a gaping hole began to appear in the middle of the pitch. In the below example, Dylan Levitt drops between the centre-backs to collect the ball. Kilmarnock don’t quite figure out how to approach this, and don’t initiate a press despite several players already moving high up the pitch.

That allows Campbell to drop into the space and collect Levitt’s pass, which takes four Kilmarnock players out of the game. From there, Hibs advance and Lewis Miller ends up flashing a dangerous delivery across the box.

Minutes later, the goal arrives. Aside from exploiting gap or lapses in concentration, the best way to escape a high press is simply to have players who can wriggle away from it on their own. There is no immediate danger to Kilmarnock when Boyle receives the ball from Fish with his back to goal, and Kilmarnock take this as a trigger to apply pressure.

But Boyle’s sharp turn of pace allows him to spin away and charge into the gap through the middle of the pitch.

With no midfield anchor in sight, the winger gets a free run through the centre, slipping the ball to the advancing Campbell, who keeps his cool to finish beyond Will Dennis.

Prior to the opener, Boyle had twice run through on goal in behind Kilmarnock’s high line, eventually being flagged offside the first time, and the second going down under pressure from Stuart Findlay. Could the midfield gap, that eventually Hibs exploited to score, have appeared because Kilmarnock became reticent to push too far up having been spooked by Boyle’s pace in behind?

In the shapshot below, Dylan Vente lays the ball off having received a pass released from a relatively similar area as the Levitt to Campbell example above, but look how much higher Kilmarnock’s defensive line is in comparison. Seconds after Vente lays off, Boyle is released in behind.

He doesn’t get his goal on that occasion, or the chance that follows, but his impact was such that it ended up creating the space that allowed him to set up Campbell’s winner, with Kilmarnock's defensive line seemingly reluctant to push as high having already had two warnings from Boyle.

The bad – Creative spark missing?

'Bad' may be slightly harsh considering three points were attained, but it’s fair to say Hibs weren’t at their creative best on Saturday. An xG of just 0.57 tells the story of a match with few opportunities for Montgomery's team, with open play xG even more meagre at just 0.078.

The race chart below displays how each side created chances across the 90 minutes, and we can see it took until Campbell’s opener for Hibs to create anything of note, and they struggled to build on that thereafter.

It felt as though Montgomery’s side were a little too slow in possession at times, or a little sloppy at crucial moments.

For periods of the first-half, Kilmarnock’s high press had the desired effect, and Hibs looked a little uncertain, even nervous, in attempting to play out. It’s becoming evident, too, that sections of the Easter Road crowd are not quite on board with the commitment to considered build-up, with some growing frustrated in moments where Hibs chose to reset in their shape instead of looking for a rapid counter-attack, with boos even ringing out at one point when David Marshall slowed the game instead of attempting what would have been a difficult long pass.

It was probably the culmination effect from a frustrating afternoon, paired with some tetchiness over how the latter stages of matches have generally turned sour in recent weeks. But Hibs deserve credit for grafting their way to a victory while being well short of peak performance.

The ugly – grinding out the points

I mean ‘ugly’ as a compliment this week, with Hibs finally managing to break the worrying trend of late concessions by seeing out a hard-earned lead. After St Mirren, Montgomery alluded to a need to learn how to just get the job done in the closing stages, with little regard for how aesthetically pleasing it might be.

The final 20 or so minutes against Kilmarnock wasn’t too easy on the eye, and it may even have been a little more anxiety-inducing than was really required, but the hope will be that Hibs have cleared a significant psychological hurdle. It may have taken a few – or several – swipes at fresh air to get there, but, in the end, it doesn’t matter how you get over the line.

Although Hibs did have to dig in as Killie threw caution to the wind, at no point were they caught wide open as against Aberdeen, or lose their shape as happened when St Mirren claimed a stoppage-time equaliser. Marshall had to make only one save of note, reacting quickly to claw away a close-range Rory Mackenzie header.

READ MORE: Lewis Miller on Killie battle, Socceroos call-up, and Martin Boyle

Also worth noting is that three games in a week will take a toll on this squad, which would benefit from added depth. There is a pool of players Montgomery feels comfortable turning to regularly, with others perhaps just outside of that. Greater numbers, whether that’s transfers or players returning from injuries/loans, will be key moving forward.