You Gotta Have Faith

Last updated : 15 November 2010 By Ed_ScottishFitba

Derek Riordan Nov 2010Derek Riordan earned the praise of his manager, Colin Calderwood, for learning a lesson from his sending off against Hearts. he was the man who got the goals that earned his side a 2-1 in over Motherwell. Riordan missed the 3-0 midweek win over Rangers through suspension after being sent off in the latter stages of Hibs 2-0 loss to Hearts for a knee-high challenge on Rudi Skacel. Calderwood had to leave out David Wotherspoon to make room for the return of Riordan and the striker delivered within 27 minutes as he countered Nick Blackman's early penalty. Riordan latched on to two Valdas Trakys knockdowns to score, although he owed a debt of gratitude to Motherwell skipper Stephen Craigan. Darren Randolph looked slow to get down to Riordan's equaliser, but his 22-yard strike had taken a deflection off Craigan. The Motherwell skipper then mis-kicked completely after Trakys had headed on a long ball to allow Riordan to slot home from 12 yards.The one-time Scotland international came close to a hat-trick on several occasions, notably with a brilliant late volley that Randolph did very well to divert over with his fingertips. Riordan lost the captaincy to Ian Murray but Calderwood looks to have put the needless red card behind him, although the forward will also be suspended for the trip to Inverness on Saturday. Calderwood said: "It was a good response. Whatever happens in life, a career or a match, it's a response that is probably more important than the action because the action is finished and gone. He was very unlucky not to get his hat-trick. He has produced our one moment in the second half."

Hibs survived some sustained Motherwell pressure after Riordan's second goal but the Steelmen failed to maintain their creativity after an immediate flurry of chances. The hosts defended deep and doubled up on Motherwell wingers Chris Humphrey and Jamie Murphy, with Trakys dropping back to add an extra body to the midfield for much of the second half. Hibs ended the game with defensive duo Ian Murray and Steven Thicot in central midfield to continue to frustrate Motherwell, although the visitors had a goal wrongly disallowed in the 71st minute when Steven Saunders was flagged offside as the slotted home Steve Jennings' reverse pass. Jennings said: "We can't just rely on that one chance but we've looked at it on the video and even when he's taken a touch he is still behind the player."

The incident was one of several controversial moments in Dougie McDonald's return to top flight games since picking up a warning from the SFA for lying about the circumstances of Celtic's withdrawn penalty at Tannadice. McDonald handed the visitors an early penalty, but was proved correct despite protests as Michael Hart pulled Murphy's shirt. The referee booked eight players, including five from the visitors, all of which were given for remonstrating with either him or Hibs players. McDonald looked to be trying to stamp his authority as he flashed yellow cards at Jennings, Humphrey and Saunders in quick succession for protesting after John Rankin's handball went unpunished. Craigan was booked for warning Murray after a poor challenge on Randolph, while Mark Reynolds received his first yellow card for 18 months for reacting angrily to a late and dangerous challenge from Trakys. Jennings said: "There were a few instances in the game where the referee blew up for a foul one time and the same foul he never blew up, and ended up booking three of our players, which was a bit bizarre. I got penalised for handball on the halfway line. I was looking the other way and it my hand and he blew up. On the edge of the Hibs box the Hibs lad has touched the ball and the linesman is 10 yards away and he never blew for it. The ref overall didn't do himself justice but he's still a good referee and I don't want to keep going on about this referee thing."

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