Nightmare continues for Sauzee as Ferrere hat-trick demolishes Hibs

AFTER the nadir of being denied a cup final by Ayr in midweek, Hibs singularly failed to bounce back at Fir Park and were subjected to a second-half humiliation by Motherwell that was every bit as damaging as their midweek calamity.

Embattled manager Franck Sauzee can still not account for an SPL win after 10 attempts, but on top of the worsening statistics he would have been alarmed at the way his side were savaged after the break.

While the Hibs players remain villains, the Motherwell fans have a new hero in Frenchman David Ferrere, who netted an unfeasible hat-trick on his debut. And he only joined in for the last 45 minutes. Short of stature but possessed of a fearsome strike, Ferrere used his prowess to put a dispirited and reeling Hibs side to the sword.

But before he ensured the right to the match ball who should pop up? Only dastardly Dirk Lehmann with a dark cameo to head Motherwell’s third against his former team. It all added up to a truly woeful experience for Hibs who remain stuck second bottom with Motherwell now six points clear.

Sauzee scored his final two goals as a player on his last visit to Fir Park. It was an infinitely happier one. How he must wonder where he is now with this managerial business and what he can do to put it right.

Adamant that he will forge on in search of a solution, Sauzee said: "It’s a bad situation. There was no reaction and I hope there will be for the next game. It’s a hard moment for us, but that’s when you have to show your real face. I will be always the optimist even if at the moment it is difficult. If I’m wrong I will go, but at the moment never. I cannot kill my players because I love them."

Meanwhile, Eric Black is very much taken by Ferrere, who was left clutching that match ball and looking rather pleased with himself. Black had taken a chance on a player who had been out of French football since June, training with the manager’s old club, Metz.

Having given him an 18 month contract Black suggested "we’ll just be extending it by another five years now". The Motherwell manager then translated for the Frenchman who thanked his new team-mates and said that in the near future he would "try and do what I did today". Watch out.

Derek Townsley, returning to his old ground in a Hibs shirt, was given pelters from kick-off. It began with home booing when he touched the ball and ended up in rustic choruses of dubious content. Townsley had predicted he might get an "indifferent" response from Motherwell fans. Indifferent wasn’t the word. This was a sharp and premeditated ear-bashing.

Sauzee had refrained from showing his "ghost team" the Hampden video nasty, probably on the assumption that the nightmare images were still haunting the players’ heads. What he wanted was a rebound from ignominy. It never came close to materialising.

Motherwell were the ones carving out chances in the first half-hour, most of them coming from set-pieces. Two free-kicks on the edge of the Hibs box were both taken by Stuart Elliott. The first, heading for the top corner, was clutched by Nick Colgan. The other dipped over the crossbar.

Black and Sauzee stood fixed before their respective benches. They met in a French Cup final 14 years ago. Black was the winner on that occasion with Metz, Sauzee the loser again.

Motherwell had only won one of their past 10 outings against Hibs. With a third set-piece similar to Elliott’s previous two efforts, Steven Hammell dispatched another commendable drive wide of the post. Ceding possession and territory, Hibs, sapped of purpose as the half wore on, were conceding a flurry of fouls. This match was looking like one-way traffic with the visitors cast in the role of pedestrians.

After Paul Fenwick hooked a defensive clearance far too close to his own goal for Colgan’s comfort, Ian Murray saw a shot tipped over by Martyn Corrigan and Craig Brewster sent a header over the bar.

The thought briefly occured that the theme from Rocky, playing when the Hibs team emerged first from the dressing-rooms, would inspire more fight during the second period, but Motherwell landed the first hook. Ferrere, who had looked a feisty little fella since replacing Scott Leitch at the interval, hared forward with immense purpose to meet Elliott’s perfect centre and slammed the ball low into the corner.

The Frenchman then delivered the knockout blow. Almost a carbon copy of his first, he wound up that boot to lash another into the far corner. As Hibs’ day darkened, Lehmann leapt high to thunder in a Hammell cross before Ferrere capped a stunning personal showing.

Taken from the Scotsman