To put Hibs’ dismal Scottish Cup exit on Saturday solely down to the failures of one man up front would be letting the rest of the Edinburgh side off the hook.
But while this was a collective disaster from start to finish, there’s no getting away from the significance of Kieron Bowie’s glaring miss late in the first half.
Having initially done well to hold his run on the halfway line before racing on to a Junior Hoilett pass, the striker couldn’t quite make up his mind about what to do next.
Perhaps he had too much time on his hands. Perhaps Deniz Mehmet in the Dunfermline goal deserves the credit for keeping it out. Either way, the finish was fluffed and the chance was gone.
As we’ve seen several times this season, Bowie is at his best when he has to rely on pure instinct. Partizan Belgrade, anyone?
There’s no doubt, too, that he is well-suited to the rough-and-tumble nature of the Scottish game — although he didn’t look too comfortable this weekend.
Kieron Bowie spurns a glorious chance against Dunfermline with the game in the balance
Pars goalkeeper Deniz Mehmet spreads himself superbly to thwart the Scotland hopeful
Bowie endured a frustrating day against Nurudeen Abdulai and the rest of the Pars back line
And aged just 23, there is plenty of room for development and improvement over the coming years.
Yes, there’s much to like about the Scotland cap. It’s therefore easy to see why he is reportedly on the radar of both halves of the Old Firm this month, as well as a clutch of clubs south of the border.
Hibs don’t need to sell but, if the rumours are to be believed, the club would require an offer the region on £5-6million just to start the conversation.
That’s their prerogative. But, quite frankly, that’s a ludicrous figure.
He hasn’t done anywhere near enough to convince anyone to part with that sort of cash. That’s not to say he won’t be worth that in the future, but in the here and now? No chance.
His tally of 15 goals in 50-odd games for Hibs is decent, but it’s nothing more than that. Those stats need boosting if he is to take his game to the next level and earn a big move elsewhere.
For the time being, Easter Road is the best place for him to do that. He’s playing week-in, week-out under a manager who has absolute trust in him to lead the line.
Bowie has at times looked like an elite striker but he does have issues with consistency
And at this stage of his career, that’s the most important thing — especially with a spot in Steve Clarke’s World Cup squad very much within his grasp.
If he can finish the season strongly and make an impression in North America, there will be no shortage of options to consider in the summer, which would be good for both Bowie and Hibs.
First thing’s first, though, he’ll need to get Saturday’s display out of his system pronto. And that goes for his team-mates too.
In what has been an inconsistent season, this was as timid a performance as David Gray’s side have put up. The manager said himself that they didn’t deserve to go through. No arguments here.
Other than the aforementioned Bowie chance — and a Thibault Klidje header with 15 minutes remaining — the visitors offered next to nothing.
It’s not as if there wasn’t enough quality on the pitch. Pars boss Neil Lennon admitted he got a pre-match lift after seeing the Hibs lineup, but with Jamie McGrath, Hoillett and the two up top, Gray would have rightly expected more of an end product.
Too many just didn’t turn up. On another day, against lesser opposition, they may well have got away with it, but this was always likely to be a potential banana-skin tie.
Dunfermline progressed at Hibs’ expense thanks to a late own goal from Miguel Chaiwa
Even when the likes of Martin Boyle and Elie Youan came off the bench in the final half hour, things never really got going.
Had it gone to extra-time, those fresh legs may have paid dividends, but we’ll never know thanks to Miguel Chaiwa’s own goal with virtually the last action of the contest to send the Pars through.
To be fair, he knew nothing about it as Kieron Ngwenya’s back-post header bounced off his arm before trundling into the bottom corner. But it mattered not to the majority of the 10,000 supporters packed into East End Park.
To a man, Dunfermline were outstanding. Their back three — consisting of Ngwenya alongside two 21-year-olds in Nurudeen Abdulai and Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen — dealt with almost everything which came their way.
Nothing flashy, rather just a case of doing the basics well. And that pretty much summed the hosts up.
The Pars’ last campaign in the top flight was all the way back in 2011-12, but with Lennon at the helm, there is every reason to believe it won’t be too long before they are back in the big time. Both the club their manager would be a welcome addition.
Hibs boss David Gray embraces Dunfermline counterpart Neil Lennon at East End Park
For Hibs, their focus must now shift towards ensuring this campaign doesn’t run out of steam. Given the way Celtic and Rangers have gone about things over the past few months, you can’t be too confident that either of them will be lifting the Scottish Cup come May.
The fact that Hearts have already been knocked out simply adds salt to the Hibs wound. This was a competition Gray and his players would have fancied winning.
They are now in a straight shootout with Motherwell to finish fourth in the Premiership and secure European football once again.
With no extra fixtures clogging up the calendar thanks to Saturday’s defeat in Fife, there can be no excuses not to meet that target.
