Scot. League
2005-10-15 - Hibs vs Kilmarnock
A Sports Betting Pick by Beanie
HibsA tough schedule for Hibs recently including UEFA Cup commitments took its toll on the squad with several niggles and injuries including those to key men such as Scott Brown and Gary Smith. And although disappointed at going out to Dnipro, Tony Mowbray will be happy that the punishing program is over and he can get back to concentrating on league form.
The high number of games did seem to trouble Hibs, who were beaten by both Inverness and Celtic when having played a UEFA tie the previous Thursday.
Those results aside, the Edinburgh team have been impressive, and after drawing with Dunfermline on the opening day and a crushing 4-0 derby defeat added wins against Livingston, Falkirk, Rangers, Dundee United and Motherwell.
More than that, Hibs have one of the best and most in form frontlines in the league. Derek Riordan has shown a terrific return to his performances of last season, scoring against Dnipro, Motherwell and Ayr in his last three games, and although the goals have dried up, Ivan Sproule still carries a huge threat with his electric pace.
And in Gary O Connor, the Edinburgh side have a Scotland striker with the power, pace and finishing to trouble most defenses in the country, let alone Kilmarnock's.
So with Sproule's pace, O Connors strength and Riordan's guile, it'll take a very clever defensive system to counter the variety of threats Hibs pose, especially with the creativity of Beuzelin in behind them.
Killie
Killie continue to go well in the league, safely in the top 6, but on closer inspection of their results things don't look quite so rosy.
Their position is mostly attributable to a run of 4 wins and a draw, and they deserve credit for their win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie, but home wins over bottom pair Dunfermline and Livingston, as well as over an erratic Motherwell side, and an away draw with Inverness(ICT's only home point of the season) shouldn't be given too much emphasis here.
Further, they have struggled to maintain such a level of performance recently, and are winless in 4 games, with the opponents being Rangers(defeat), Dunfermline(defeat), Dundee United(draw) and Falkirk(draw). Thats not disasterous, but not ideal when facing a strong home Hibs side.
Despite all their goals, I still don't rate the partnership of Boyd and Nish when up against a decent defence - they've had no problems vs Dunfermline/Livingston and dare I even suggest ICT whose back line has looked a lot less solid this season, but up against the better defences such as Aberdeen and Hearts the goals have been coming from the attacking midfielders rather the front two.
Admittedly Hibs' defence isn't water tight right now, but I'd back someone like Caldwell to take care of Nish for 90 minutes.
H2Hs
Hibernian Kilmarnock FC 3:0
Hibernian Kilmarnock FC 0:1
Hibernian Kilmarnock FC 3:0
Hibernian Kilmarnock FC 3:1
Hibernian Kilmarnock FC 2:0
Thats 4/5 for Hibs at Easter Road over the last 2 seasons, with all the wins coming by atleast 2 goals.
Enough for me to pull the trigger and go with:
The Pick :
Hibs to Win
