Hibernian 0 - 0 Dunfermline

The Hibernian play is turning into Macbeth without the laughs. The last twist in the plot, following an intriguing no-score draw with Dunfermline at the National Stadium yesterday afternoon, occurred when the leading actor pulled out and was replaced at the post-match press conference by an understudy who has been known to supply lines.

The absence of John Collins, the Hibernian manager, was explained by Tommy Craig, his assistant, as being the result of the manager's family having just flown in from abroad and Collins' desire to spend some time with them. He is going to be spending an awful lot more time with them if he doesn't acquaint himself with the realities of the situation he faces.

Collins spoke to radio and television interviewers, pointing out he "knew who to trust and who not to trust" after a week when a revolt by some players destabilised the club.

He added in an interview with BBC Scotland: "We've had a difficult week, there was a lot of pressure on the players, but they've responded. I ask football players to live their lives as professionals. I only want what's best for the players. Whenever I ask them to do something, it's for their benefit, they get the rewards in the end, they all know that.

"Maybe they let that slip through their minds during the week but deep down they know whatever I ask them to do is for their benefit as individuals and a collective unit."

Collins could not, however, find 10 minutes for newspaper reporters. This will hardly bring the general public out on to the cobbles in a demonstration of outrage but it brings more disaffection against a manager who has committed a series of own goals in a week when his team have scored no goals in two encounters against the bottom team of the league.

After a game that will now be replayed on Tuesday, April 24, Craig was escorted in to face the press and had to repeat the reason for Collins' absence to an incredulous press.

He did, however, address the turmoil at the club, saying: "Every day you go into the club, issues will crop up. I'm not saying there aren't issues to sort out but that's all I'm going to say.

"Most clubs like to keep things in-house and any problems that we have had, or will have in the future, will be kept in-house.

"It's been a tough week. Football is the best job in the world, but it can get tough.

The tougher it gets, the more you try to stand up.

"I wouldn't change it for anything. We've got through the week and we've still got a chance to win the tie."

Asked whether he believed Collins would crack under the pressure, Craig replied: "Absolutely not. I've worked with him for five months and he shows every sign of being a meticulous planner, a searcher of high standards.

"He accepts that he will make mistakes in the future, but he is just another young manager making his way in the game. If you are asking me what the signs are, I think the signs are very positive."

Michael Stewart, one of the alleged ringleaders in the protest movement, was absent from the squad yesterday, but Craig denied team selection was influenced by off-field problems.

"We would never make a selection outwith football reasons," he said. "Michael has been in the team and on the bench on occasions in the last six to eight weeks, as have another four or five.

"It was a football decision to leave out Shelton Martis, Dean Shiels, Ross Campbell and Michael Stewart.

"We, at this moment in time, feel that we can call upon any player at the club and feel that we will get a response."

They will have to succeed in this limited ambition. And quickly.

If the knives are out for Collins, the match itself resembled a duel in the sun with broadswords rather than rapiers being the weapon of choice. Subtlety was missing but there was almost a surfeit of effort. This produced a match of frantic thrusts and counter-thrusts.

The coup de grace was never applied, largely because of the excellence of Andy McNeil in the Hibernian goal and Sol Bamba in the Dunfermline defence. A lack of assured finishing also made a significant contribution to a blank scoresheet.

The match is easily summarised. Dunfermline had the better of the first half, Hibs dominated much of the second. The game started at a Grand National gallop and ended with players scattered on the ground like fallen runners through a mixture of exhaustion and exasperation.

McNeil had a splendid first half that was cruelly ended when he dived bravely at Jim McIntyre's feet. He walked unsteadily off and was kept indoors at half-time because he was suffering from double vision. It was his double save, though, that kept Hibs in the Scottish Cup.

A McIntyre flick allowed Jamie McCunnie time to shoot but the midfielder's uncon-vincing effort rebounded from a post. Jim O'Brien volleyed smartly but McNeil splendidly tipped the shot away. The Hibernian goalkeeper was also at his athletic best when he tipped a rasping Phil McGuire volley over the bar.

These significant stops were divided by a good save from Dorus de Vries, the Dunfermline custodian, after a vicious Scott Brown shot.

In the second half, Hibs increased their presence in the match after McGuire had nullified much of the threat from Brown in the first half and Bamba and Scott Wilson had kept the industrious Hibs front two in line.

Collins immediately paired Brown and Ivan Sproule on the right side after the restart and this caused Dunfermline considerable vexation.

A typical Brown sally to the byline ended with a cute cutback and Steven Fletcher being denied by a block yards from goal. Sproule was then wasteful when he engineered space on the edge of the box. The Northern Irish winger shot powerfully past a post as he continued to stretch Dunfermline with his pace and trickery.

Perhaps, though, the best chance fell to Dunfermline. The ever-willing McIntyre robbed Guillaume Beuzelin and released the tricky Adam Hamill. The on-loan Liverpool winger turned the Hibs defence before playing a neat ball to Gary Mason, who blasted high and wide from a central position 12 yards out.

As Hibs continued to exert pressure without producing solid chances, Dunfermline were restricted to set-pieces in an attacking sense and did not force Simon Brown, the substitute goalkeeper, to make a significant save, though he did almost make a mess of a corner.

The last act of a match that was slowly wilting in the heat was Bamba's header off the line after Abdessalam Benjelloun slammed a shot into the turf with just eight minutes left.

Thereafter it was a matter of wiping sweat from brows. There may, though, be blood and tears at Easter Road later this week.