Hibs close gap on leaders

Hibernian closed the gap on top two teams Celtic and Hearts after this great display against struggling Rangers.

They are now only three points behind rivals Hearts and four points behind Celtic and can consider themselves to be serious title contenders.

Hibs outplayed Rangers and deserved their two goal lead at half-time.

The first Hibs goal came from talented youngster Derek Riordan. Sproule fired a ball across Ronald Waterreus’ goal and Derek Riordan tapped the ball home to give the Edinburgh team the lead.

The goal was coming and it was deserved as Hibernian were piling on the pressure on a Rangers team low in confidence. Moments earlier Garry O’Connor had a header saved by Waterreus after Riordan curled a free-kick into the box.

After the goal, Hibernian continued to control the game and in the 25th minute they got their second after Garry O’Connor superbly volleyed home a shot inside the box.

Rangers somehow managed to get a goal back in the second half and it was Barry Ferguson who got the goal after Chris Burke set him up for the shot at the edge of the box which somehow found it’s way through the packed box and into the back of the Hibs net.

Rangers best chance for an equaliser fell to Hamed Namouchi when the ball fell to him inside the box, he had an open goal but somehow managed to fire it over the bar. To be fair to him though, he did take it on the volley and it wasn’t an easy chance to take.

After a ten minute spell where Rangers took the game to Hibs, the home team got back in control of the game and held out well for the victory.

Rangers had their captain Barry Ferguson sent off in the dying seconds for a second bookable offence.

Who would’ve thought that Hibs would be sitting at this stage of the season [b]11[/b] points ahead of Rangers and in a race for the championship.

Player Ratings

Zibi Malkowski 6
Steven Whittaker 7
Gary Caldwell 7
Gary Smith 7
Steven Glass 7
Ivan Sproule 7
Guillaume Beuzelin 7
Scott Brown 9
Kevin Thomson 8
Derek Riordan 9
Garry O’Connor 8
Steven Fletcher 5
Sam Morrow 3

Manager Rating
Tony Mowbray – Has been a revelation at Hibs.

Opponent Rating
Alex McLeish – The ex Hibs manager’s Rangers job is hanging by a thread and this game won’t have helped his case.