Johnston no stranger to 'brutal' away trips
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Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Hibs player ratings vs Livingston as two new signings steal the show
Hibs will face Rangers in the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup after a comfortable 2-0 win away at Livingston during their last 16 clash. Thibault Klidje was denied an away opener inside 60 seconds before Josh Campbell almost netted a screamer from range. Klidje eventually headed Hibs ahead with further chances falling their way after half-time, before substitute Josh Mulligan blasted home a stunning winner from range late on. Next up is the first of a two legged Conference League battle with Legia Warsaw at Easter Road on Thursday for the chance to reach the competition's league phase. Less than 72 hours on from a energy-sapping Conference League triumph after extra time over Partizan Belgrade, changes were inevitable. Six in total came into David Gray's side, with new signings like Raphael Sallinger, Miguel Chaiwa and Klidje amongst those given the nod. With a play-off crunch to come against Legia Warsaw midweek, it was a test of how far the squad depth truly stretched. A Scotland international, Champions League experienced midfielder and seven figure striker aren't the worst deputies to turn to, on top of a chance for youngster Kanayo Megwa at right-wing-back and Alasana Manneh in midfield. Kieron Bowie had to settle for a place on the bench after his Puskas Award-worthy lob against Partizan and Klidje tried a miniature version of that from just outside the box, parried over by keeper Jerome Prior. Livi had threatened to pick through Hibs in the first 15 but the pace of Martin Boyle and hassling nature of his strike partner were proving challenging for the hosts to handle. Campbell was keen to add to the Goal of the Season contenders list for games involving Hibs after strikes by Ben Brannan and Bowie in the last week, rifling a half volley from long range off the palms of Prior. Hibs had settled into the game nicely and looked the more menacing when it came to the final third, with last ditch Livi tackles needed consistently. That lead they endeavoured to gain was eventually secured, a Boyle corner flicked on by Klidje, making it's way through a ruck of bodies and into the net. A Jack Iredale stumble showed another was needed to make sure of this, Robbie Muirhead's swing and miss providing a warning shot with the game separated by one goal. That moment came and went quickly though with control soon exerted on this match early in the second 45, Campbell missing Hibs' latest chance to put the game to bed from close range. Livi started opting for the route one approach which forced Hibs into a more defensive minded approach but with every launch into the box came the distinct threat of the visitors countering. In the end it was a moment of powerful magic that won it, Mulligan slamming the ball beyond Prior to give Hibs' rotated cast just rewards for their dominance in proceedings. Rangers await them next month for a chance to return to Hampden but all focus now turns to a huge night on the continent against Legia. Here's how we rated the Hibs players at Almondvale. 1 . Raphael Sallinger - 6/10 Did all the basics well. No shots of note to save. | Alan Rennie Photo Sales 2 . Warren O'Hora - 6/10 Consistent performer in early part of the season. Took up advanced positions which helped passing game. | SNS Group Photo Sales 3 . Grant Hanley - 7/10 Took a bit too long on the ball in opening half that could have been costly but showed experience to work way out of a jam. Building in sharpness and already exerting leadership. Chucked body on line when needed. | SNS Group Photo Sales 4 . Jack Iredale - 7/10 A little slip at start of second half but outside that, a commanding display. Lewis Smith grounded and wrestled with Muirhead well. | SNS Group Photo Sales
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Grealish never conformed as Guardiola's ‘obedient little schoolboy' but glorious third act beckons
A figure toils alone at Bodymoor Heath. The light fades, but against the setting sun his silhouette is distinctive: the floppy hair, the hunched gait, the vast calves. Jack Grealish is working, honing and polishing, inventing, striving at the limits of technical excellence. He has inspired Aston Villa to achieve promotion. He has helped them to avoid relegation, establish themselves as a Premier League side. He is enormously popular. Even opposing fans admire his ability, warm to the sense he is still in some way the impish kid in the playground, revelling in his ability, having fun. That summer at the European Championship he had become a cause célèbre, the figure behind whom the clamour for Gareth Southgate to release the handbrake rallied, the poster boy for the sort of pundit who wished England would just believe in talent. Grealish wanted more. He was a Villa fan, loved the club, but he wanted to test himself at the very highest level, to compete for the league title, to play in the later stages of the Champions League. He did not want to be just the cheeky kid with the jinking feet; he had professional ambition. At which there came a flash of light, a puff of smoke, and there appeared on the heath a cadaverous, dark-haired figure – Mephistopheles, or perhaps an agent. Grealish could have all these things, the figure said, he could lift trophies, even win a treble, if only he signed a six-year contract with Manchester City. As Grealish reached for the pen, the figure murmured, almost under his breath, that there would be a cost. But by then the deal was done. Which is how we have come, four years later, to this week, and Grealish, the first £100m signing by a British club, being loaned to Everton. He has won three league titles, a Champions League and an FA Cup; the cadaverous figure has fulfilled his part of the bargain. Yet there lurks a sense that Grealish's move four summers ago has not quite worked out, that though much has been won, much too was lost. Perhaps David Moyes, a common line of thought runs, can help the lost boy rediscover his sense of joy. Looked at coldly, Grealish's career has mapped an almost perfect arc. A kid shows talent, joins his local club, prospers, leaves them for a giant, wins trophies, has one outstanding season, and then, as he approaches 30, he drops down again joining another of England's slumbering giants. How else should a career look? You would probably want that third phase to start two or three years later but that aside, this is pretty much the model. Had he stayed at Villa, there would have been corners of the internet mocking him for his lack of ambition and lack of medals, as happened with Harry Kane before he left Tottenham for Bayern. But Grealish has become entwined with a broader discussion, the doubts about the effectiveness of Pep Guardiola's methods – which itself is a broad spectrum, ranging from kneejerk hostility from instinctive nostalgists who believe simple is always good, to considered analysis that wonders whether an obsessive focus on position and possession can make a side predictable now that the world has become familiar with the basic Guardiola methods. Foremost among that second category is Guardiola himself, a manager who has maintained a state of almost perpetual evolution. That is one of the reasons he signed Grealish: to add imagination and improvisation, just as, a year later, he would sign Erling Haaland, another player who did not obviously fit his system, who might generate the friction that would generate the sparks of creativity. Or at least it appears that was the plan. Haaland resisted, refused his manager's demands to drop deep, to convert himself into a gigantic creative midfielder. Grealish did not. Whatever Guardiola originally intended for him, he soon began to craft Grealish to his philosophy. Amid the celebrations at the end of the 2021-22 season, as City came from 2-0 down to beat Aston Villa and win the title, Grealish, whose candid nature is part of his charm, spoke of how inhibited he at times felt by Guardiola's demands; his dribbles per game had dropped by 40%. The system had, perhaps inevitably, changed him more than he had changed the system. The following season was Grealish's best at City. He won the treble. He scored five goals in the league and set up another seven. Guardiola trusted him in the biggest games; he started every knockout game in the Champions League. Teammates nicknamed him the Rest Station because you could give him the ball and take a couple of seconds breather, knowing he was not going to give it away. His dribbles per game rose by 7%. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Grealish adapted. He became a Guardiola player. But the next season he started only 10 Premier League games. The one after that, last season, he started seven. Dribbles per game dropped by 56%. When City were chasing a goal in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace, Guardiola preferred to turn to Claudio Echeverri, a 19-year-old Argentinian who had never played for the club. And with that it was over. Injuries have not helped, but neither has his lifestyle – and Guardiola implied a link after Grealish had a recurrence of a groin injury in February last year. Very few modern footballers have been pictured quite so often in the company of alcohol. That is not to say Grealish has led a life of hedonism, or even of a footballer of 30 years ago, but neither is he one of the 'obedient little schoolboys' – to use Zlatan Ibrahimovic's term – favoured by Guardiola. Whether that is how he has always lived or whether he lost some hunger after winning the treble, only Grealish can know. Perhaps he could tolerate the restrictions only so long. But he is still young. If he can remain injury-free, there could be a glorious third act to his career, perhaps even a trophy at a club that would really appreciate it. And if he could rediscover that sense of joy while doing so, if he can make the Faustian deal a temporary contract, what a career that would be, beginning and ending as a popular schoolyard player, with a curious trophy‑winning interlude in the middle.
Daily Record
2 hours ago
- Daily Record
Bob MacInytre suffers BMW Championship agony as Scottie Scheffler overhauls Oban hero's four point deficit
It wasn't to be for the Oban star who had held a four shot lead over Scheffler going into the final day of play in Maryland Bob MacIntyre was left reeling after Scottie Scheffler overturned a four-shot lead to reign supreme at the BMW Championship. The Scottish hero had gone into the final day in Maryland with a healthy advantage after a stellar display on Saturday but was simply no watch for the American in the end, who pipped him to the PGA title by two shots. World number one and three-time major champion Scheffler capped off a fine comeback with an exquisite chip-in on the 17th hole to edge him towards victory at the Caves Valley Golf Club. The New Jersey star's glory in 2025 is showing no signs of slowing down, adding the BMW title to the PGA Championship and Open Championship crowns lifted by Scheffler earlier this year. It turned out to be a disappointing final day for MacIntyre who bogeyed his first two holes and wasn't able to register a birdie until the third-last whole. The 2024 Scottish Open winner shot 73 in total, with Scheffler finishing on a 15-under-par total after a final score of 67. Maverick McNealy finished third on 11 under. Elswwhe Shane Lowry comfortably qualified for the PGA Tour 's season-ending Tour Championship for only the second time in his career while Rory McIlroy bounced back five birdies from the ninth hole for a level-par round of a three under total score of 70. Speaking after his triumph, Scheffler said: "I think my consistency has a lot to do with the intensity I bring to each round. " I try not to take days or shots off. "When it gets to this time of the year it can be a little bit tiring, today was a grind." You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also on WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here.
