Match Date : Saturday 30 November 1996 Competition : Premier League Attendance : 7,332
Hibernian 2 Motherwell 0THE Steelmen of Motherwell can count themselves very unfortunate to have came away from Edinburgh pointless after a match which they dominated but were hit by two sucker punch goals.
Although there were few close calls in a first half spent virtually entirely within the Home half, Motherwell did almost take the lead when John Philliben rose to smack a header off the top of the bar. Hibs were restricted to breakaways, and did look more menancing than Motherwell, however, it was very much against the run of play that Hibs took the lead on 34 minutes. McAllister and Jackson combined cleverly to leave the latter with a clear shot on goals, and Jackson despatched the ball into the net from 22 yards leaving Howie helpless. Motherwell had defended well up to this point and it was hard on the back 4 to lose a goal after such good work. Up front Motherwell struggled to create anything which troubled Leighton as the makeshift strikeforce of recently returned Tommy Coyne and back-in-favour Andy Roddie took time to settle together.
Half-Time Hibernian 1 Motherwell 0
The second half was the first repeated, Motherwell had more and more possession as time progressed, but some bad luck and some appalling misses meant it was to turn out to be a blank day for the Lanarkshire lads. The normally dependable Coyne should have drawn Motherwell level 13 minutes into the second when, from only 6 yards out he rushed his shot and put the ball wide of an empty goal with Leighton stranded. Then Leighton produced a great save from Andy Roddie's shot as Motherwell began to pile on the pressure in search of an equaliser, Billy Davies then came oh-so close with his effort just the wrong side of the post. Although Hibs looked threatening in the few breakaways they had, if the visitors had turned their clever, creative midfield play into chances they would surely have won this match convincingly, but almost into stoppage time the were caught cold when, in a rare Hibs breakaway, Jackson appeared to be caught by Chris McCart as the Scotland player chippped over the Motherwell defender's head. Jackson picked himself up and drilled the penalty home to secure victory for a rather fortunate home side. It could have been three seconds later but Jackson saw his shot strike Howie's right-hand post and into the stand behind. A rather disconsolate Motherwell side trooped off at the final whistle wondering how they managed to lose a game which, if deceided on points, they would have won easily.
FINAL SCORE Hibernian 2 Motherwell 0