OPPO: Motherwell
VENUE: Fir Park
RESULT: 1-0 (Riordan 90)
TEAM:   Andersson, Smith, Murdock, Doumbe, Whittaker, Brebner, Kevin Thomson, Glass, Riordan, O Connor, Scott Brown 
Subs not used: Hyldgaard, McManus, Nicol, Dobbie, Baillie
MAN IN BLACK: Craig Thomson
ATTENDANCE: 4533

WILLIAMSON’S COMMENTS

"If you are a Hibs fan at this moment in time you have to stay right to the end of games because something is usually going to happen! We are either conceding or scoring the winner in the closing minutes and thankfully on Saturday it was scoring the winner and I'm very pleased about that. I would say we just about edged the game but Terry Butcher will probably say they were hard-done by I'm sure."

We were most definitely due a bit of luck, I've been over the course for a few years now and I know that if you keep it tight and focus on what you are good at and trying to achieve then the luck will come back round again. If though you panic and start changing for the sake of change then you could be in trouble, but as I've said I've experienced this before and will again and know you just have to remain strong and believe in the players. The most pleasing aspect of the day I felt was even before the game started and I looked at the team-sheets and saw there was 16 players under the age of 21 in both sides. That is a fantastic ratio but probably too much if truth be told because you do need experienced players to help the young guys get through and become good professionals."."

EVENING NEWS

"Williamson's weans win it over bairns of Butcher"

FOR anyone concerned about the future well-being of Scottish football, a trip to Fir Park at the weekend would have provided the perfect panacea.

Not that the 90 minutes produced a match to remember. No, torrential rain and a swirling wind which had all four corner flags flapping in different directions ensured this would be no classic - despite the efforts of both sides to get the ball down and play football.

What was remarkable, though, was the fact that of the 32 players who stripped ready for action, half of them were under the age of 21.

Indeed, such was the youth on display this encounter could well have been dubbed Butcher’s Bairns against Williamson’s Weans. 

THE SCOTSMAN

"Motherwell boss furious after Hibs late winner"

Neither side managed totally to master the conditions, so the impartial view would doubtless have been that a point apiece was a fair result, but then neutrality is not something that managers or players are renowned for, so the feeling in the visiting camp was that they had done enough to win.

In Mathias Doumbe and Scott Brown, the men from Easter Road certainly had the two most eye-catching individuals on view, and if the home side have earned a reputation for a willingness to give youth its fling, albeit that it might have been forced on them by financial circumstances, Hibs are not exactly a side littered with geriatrics these days.

Manager Bobby Williamson maintained that he never lost faith in his team and was always confident they would get there in the end, although, for the sake of his nerves, he might have preferred them not to wait until the very last minute - which remains a popular time for goals in matches in which Hibs are involved.

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

"Ruthless Riordan saves best for last"

As it turned out it was Bobby Williamson who was singing his team’s praises at the end after Derek Riordan slammed home a 90th-minute winner. The upshot is that Motherwell have now lost three on the trot while their opponents pick up a win bonus for the first time in seven weeks.

You could not have picked a more inappropriate day to play football, with hail, rain and a spoiling wind conspiring to undermine the spectacle. Mind you, the conditions led to some inadvertently entertaining moments, one of which was a speculative Riordan shot which boomeranged mischievously and almost embarrassed Motherwell goalkeeper Gordon Marshall.

SUNDAY MAIL

"HIBS MOUNT A RIOR GUARD ACTION"

WELL were ordered to be more like Terry Butcher's favourite heavy metal band but it was Hibs who got back on song with last-gasp hero Derek Riordan.

The rookie Hibee ended his side's horror losing streak with a spectacular injury time clincher. And that sickener left Well nursing a miserable record of three defeats on the bounce.

Boss Butcher's pre-match message in the club programme was a bizarre delve into the big man's sporting psyche, calling on his side to follow the example of the group Iron Maiden.

He'd been to their concert and was raving about the consistency and high standard of performance that's kept the band going for 20 years.
 

SUNDAY HERALD

THESE are probably the two least experienced teams in the top flight and both have been going through a marked dip in form. So when they met amid strong winds and a torrential downpour the scene was set for a game high on effort and energy, but low on intricacy and guile.
And so it proved, with the spectacle at times resembling pinball more than football, so rapidly did the ball change direction. On the slippery surface frequent collisions were inevitable and in the early stages referee Craig Thomson's whistle was making more noise than the subdued and shivering Fir Park crowd.

Yet both these teams have skill and confidence in abundance, and even in these conditions some touches of class quickly showed through. The home side's speedy young striker David Clarkson was first to test Hibernian goalkeeper Daniel Anderson, his firm right-foot shot whipping spray into the Swede's face as the latter crouched to block it
 

BBC NEWS ONLINE

Derek Riordan hit a 90th minute goal at Fir Park to give Hibernian a much-needed league win.

A dull, scrappy match looked destined for a draw until the young striker claimed his seventh goal of the season to make it three consecutive losses for the home side.

Hibs, who had not won since 25 October, leapfrog Dundee and Livingston into seventh place thanks to the three points.

There could have been more goals in the game had referee Craig Thomson not turned down three strong penalty claims - two for the visitors and one for 'Well.
 

OFFICIAL WEB SITE

"DEEK SNATCHES IT AT THE DEATH"

Brown then had a great chance but seemed to be upended by Marshall - and seconds later Whittaker twisted his way into the area with the same effect, neither resulting in a penalty to the fury of the visiting fans. Hibs now were applying the pressure with three quick corners, the last of which saw Marshall just touch a Riordan effort over the bar for a fourth corner kick, this time sent past the post by Murdock as Marshall again missed the ball.

Motherwell sent in Quinn for Lasley with six minutes remaining, and a minute later Doumbe was adjudged to have fouled Pearson 30 yards out providing the home side with a chance - Burns resulting shot breaking off the wall and away for a corner. Inside the final minute and O'Connor had a great effort touched over the bar by Marshall, and when the home side failed to clear Doumbe touched the ball in to Riordan and he slammed a low shot into the left corner of the net to clinch the points for Hibs!