Hibernian 0 Hearts 0: Hibs in a rage as Leigh Griffiths 'goal' is disallowed

Scott McDermott

MATCH officials come under fire from the Easter Road club after failing to spot the ball crossing the line from the striker's free kick.

HE’S crossed the line a few times in his career and got little sympathy.

But it was hard not to feel sorry for Leigh Griffiths yesterday when his free-kick was a yard over the goal-line – and ropey officials denied him a derby-day winner.

The Hibs hitman was convinced he had sealed victory over Hearts with a stunning strike that hit the bar and bounced in.

But referee Euan Norris and assistant Raymond Whyte failed to see it and ruled that Griffiths hadn’t scored his 23rd goal of the season.

The bad boy Hibee beat Jambos keeper Jamie MacDonald all ends up after the ball crashed off the underside of the woodwork – and everyone inside Easter Road knew it was a goal. Except Norris and Whyte, that is. Incredibly, they both looked at each other and opted out of making the right decision, leaving the Hibees players and fans distraught.

This was the same Norris who gave Pat Fenlon’s men a goal that wasn't over the line against Dunfermline last season.

But the fourth in a 4-0 win hardly compares to a vital clincher against Hearts.
Match officials under fire over disallowed 'goal' in Edinburgh derby

Fenlon and Griffiths vented their anger at the end but to no avail as both Edinburgh clubs had to settle for an SPL point after an uninspiring 90 minutes.

Right from the off, Hibs fans taunted their Jambo rivals with chants of “Hearts are going bust” and it was difficult for the away end to respond.

You get the feeling the Gorgie fans fail to realise the seriousness of their financial peril.

They constantly reminded the Hibees of that 5-1 Scottish Cup Final victory last May – but that will be irrelevant if they don’t have a club to support next season.

All interim boss Gary Locke could do for the time being was try to maintain their good record at Easter Road and pick up a win which would look good on his managerial CV.

It’s expected that Peter Houston will be the club’s new gaffer this week but you have to ask, what’s the rush? Locke is more than capable of guiding them through next Sunday’s League Cup Final – and his team posed more of a threat early on yesterday.

He decided to pair two man-mountains, Michael Ngoo and John Sutton, up front and they were a real handful for Hibs’ backline. Sutton was first to have a pop at goal from Ngoo’s flick but Ben Williams smothered his low drive.

Then Ngoo’s shot took a nick off a Hibs defender and crept inches wide. From the resultant corner, Sutton powered in a header but his strike partner got in the way of it and allowed Lewis Stevenson to clear off the line.

It was on-loan Liverpool ace Ngoo, in particular, who was giving the home defence a torrid time with his brute strength and direct running.

He was even peeling on to full-back Alan Maybury, which was a catch-weight contest if ever there was one.

Hibs adopted a completely different style at the other end of the pitch with Fenlon deploying the SPL’s top marksman Griffiths as his lone frontman.

The idea was to feed Griffiths via David Wotherspoon and Matt Done in the wide areas.

But it was a tough shift for him – he was starved of service and found himself working off scraps most of the time. Like most Edinburgh derbies recently, there wasn’t much football played.

But horrific weather, which included snow and hailstones, contributed to a dogged, scrappy affair that required a yellow ball just before the break.

And Hearts defender Danny Wilson should have put it in the Hibs net on the stroke of half-time. Arvydas Novikovas found him with a terrific free-kick at the back post but Wilson wasted the game’s first gilt-edged chance by nodding wide from four yards.

After the interval, the lack of quality on show continued. Again, Hearts looked marginally more dangerous but Ryan Stevenson’s two ballooned long-range efforts were the only attempts on goal.

Incredibly, when a sublime piece of skill did come along it was courtesy of a centre-half. On the hour, Jambo Andy Webster juggled the ball on the edge of the box and hit a brilliantly controlled volley with his left peg.

It was destined for the bottom corner but Williams got down to produce a top-class save.

Hibs were struggling to get inside Hearts’ box and just couldn’t get Griffiths into the game. Ngoo had a sniff of goal from a Webster knockdown 12 yards out – but with Williams off his line, the big Englishman took a touch instead of shooting first time and the chance was gone.

It was 73 minutes before Griffiths got a sight of goal but, from a poor Wilson header, the 22-goal man fired high and wide.

Clearly, though, that got his eye in and moments later he thought he had broken the deadlock.

He had no right to go for goal a good 35 yards out but his stunning left-foot curler beat MacDonald and went in off the bar before being cleared for a corner.

Hibs fans and players were certain the ball had crossed the line. But ref Norris and assistant Whyte decided not to award a goal.

Hibs used their sense of injustice to try to find a winner – and brought on Kevin Thomson to help.

But some staunch Hearts defending ensured Locke left Leith with a point.

Griffiths, on the other hand, will feel mightily hard done by he didn’t have all three.

Taken from the Daily Record