Kelle Roos made sure he did his homework on Hibs ahead of his first visit to Easter Road.
But the Aberdeen keeper can’t get his head around why referees aren’t also swotting up on potential candidates for the naughty list after witnessing Ryan Porteous’ disruptive influence on events. The defender is top of the class at Hibs, with a Scotland call-up this week a reward for all his hard work under new boss Lee Johnson.
But Dons gaffer Jim Goodwin has another opinion of him. So concerned was he about the centre-back’s ability cause trouble at set-pieces he warned both his team and referee David Dickinson before kick-off to be on the look-out for us his use of the dark arts in and around the penalty box. While keeper Roos took that cautionary lesson on board, the message failed to sink in with Liam Scales and the officials, who awarded Hibs a penalty on the stroke of half-time after Porteous hit the deck following a tangle with the on-loan Celtic defender.
Goodwin accused the Leith defender of “blatant cheating” as he dragged his opponent to the turf while at the same time playing the victim card. He can expect a stint in dugout detention for that outburst but the Irishman has a strong case. It was a nonsense decision. With Scales copping his second yellow card in the space of two minutes, Hibs rubbed salt into red wounds as Martin Boyle tucked his penalty past Roos to cancel out Duk Lopes’ early opener, with Josh Campbell’s second-half double sealing a win that fires Lee Johnson’s team above the Dons into fourth.
Roos said: “This is the first time I’d played at Hibs and I was aware that this guy was meant to be a diver. So hopefully the ref has got it right because I’ve not watched it back. This guy has got a name for himself and it was very questionable I think. I worked with the goalkeeping department about what Hibs’ strengths were and Craig Samson mentioned to me this guy has a name for himself by diving if he can’t get near the ball. That’s what he’s done.
“And if I know that I presume that refs know it too. And if they don’t they should make sure that they do. Like the players who dive, I live and breathe to win games. In the heat of the moment players do things they’re not always proud of. I don’t think it’s the aim to do that. Some players have that in them and some don’t. It’s always easy for the strong and tough guys like myself to say, ‘They should be tougher’ but players play to different strengths.
“Personally, diving is not my thing, it’s very difficult to say that for other players. You can say you like him or you hate him. I’ve not seen the footage of him diving before but I knew he had a name for himself. So that must mean he has done some questionable things. If I know that then I hope the refs do too.”
Goodwin may want to reconsider his decision to stick with a two-man pairing in central midfield after seeing Ross McCrorie and Ylber Ramadani overrun by Hibs’ central trio as they hit back from Lopes’ third-minute opener. It was a peach of a finish. He swivelled his neck to loop a soaring header up and over David Marshall from a pin-point Hayden Coulson delivery.
But with Goodwin failing to address the numerical mismatch in the middle of the park, Hibs were given all the encouragement they needed to take command. They should have had an earlier penalty for a McCrorie hand ball but had to wait until the end of the first half to get themselves level with Boyle’s spot-kick.
Goodwin finally plugged the gap in midfield as he threw on Dante Polvara but by now Hibs had an extra man and spaces were popping up all over the shop. It was a surprise Campbell managed to find a huge one in between centre-backs McCrorie and Anthony Stewart but he didn’t let the shock disrupt him as he turned to collect Chris Cadden’s pass before sweeping behind Roos after 63 minutes.
And the Hibs academy kid managed to evade the Aberdeen radar again 10 minutes later when he read McCrorie’s attempt to head another Cadden cross back to his keeper, re-appearing at the perfect moment to prod home the clinching goal.
