Hilderinc Football Club

Having been at the wrong end of 1-6, 5-2 defeats against Hibernian Athletics, though the latter just three weeks ago had a different second half narrative to the actual scoreline, Hilderinc FC’s recent development gathered momentum with yet another creditable outing, though a fair result just about eluded them in a tight contest.

Key to the upward impetus has been surely the consistent matchday squad, which has included both returning experienced players and youthful inclusions, which has allowed much needed synergy, and most importantly, to play the way that that has been expected, but had been a struggle in the initial stages of the campaign.

Moving away from familiar Saturday setting, both Muddy Murphy’s bedfellows spend the early minutes dealing with the weather, a small pitch and a referee who looked out of sorts with his own thoughts.

However, navigating the opening challenge, the game slowly opened up with Hibs showing more intent than the Hilderincs, who looked scrappy and unimaginative at times, especially in the final third, which was spend chasing the ball, rather than making anything meaningful when in possession.

Having allowed the opponents to come close on couple of occasion, the Blacks were guilty of sloppiness which had them punished as Hib took the lead in self-inflicting circumstances on the part of the Hilderincs, to great irritation, which prompted almost an immediate reaction with an alternation of personnel.

Consequentially, the Blacks responded with purpose and intent, though the attacking endeavour lacked effective collaboration between the midfield and the forward lineup, though the different departments were industrious in their own responsibilities.

Though keeping on course with the task, the Hilderincs went into the break a goal down, and with the weather taking a toll, the Blacks were grateful for a full bench, which they duly utilised during the break.

Seeking a way back, the Blacks approach was clear from the restart as they pushed a little more, looking to get back on terms as soon as possible, but it was the Hibs were the more active in front of the goal, and against the run of play, they extended the lead, with another messy self-infliction from the Hilderincs themselves.

Turning the screw, the Blacks finally got themselves on the scoresheet when Ryan Ng slalomed into the box before picking his spot to bring the Hilderincs back within shout of a leveller and setting up for a frantic finale.

With a final push, HFC threw everything but the kitchen sink, and after coming tentatively close, the best effort came with the last kick of the game.

Spotting a gap at the near post, Ian Morris cheeky attempt to put the ball into it directly from a corner very nearly paid off, but the skipper was unfortunate to see the ball narrowly hit the sidenetting instead.

While a draw would have been a fair result, there was little to begrudge the performance, apart from the manner with which they conceded both their goals, but there were many positives to continue to build on next week, which will see them revisit the GESS after their not too past nightmare there, and play a EFL Saturday fixture on a Sunday on a curious double bill fixture.

Equatorial Football League QD1

Hilderinc FC 1 : Hibernian Athletics 2

Ryan Ng 70’

POM: Jose Kasijo

Starting Line-up

1. Jose Kasijo (GK)

2. Sean Rajah

3. Ken Yap

4. Venkat Kalairasan

5. Sergey Darovskikh

6. Nicholas Ledenmark

7. Basil Chai

8. Ryan Ng

9. Melvin Sim

10. Ian Morris

11. Fahmy “Ollie” Barker

Substitute

12. Basil Al Barr

13. Chris Collick

14. Nicholas Collick

15. Nicolo Yang

16. Sai Ganesh

17. Tan Euren

A HFC Media Online Publication