Overall Head of Hibernian Academy Coaching James McDonaugh admitted that his team did not deserve to win the Edinburgh derby last night and claimed that although Hibs’ two late penalties were ‘soft,’ they were justified.
After the game which ended 2-2, McDonaugh told the club website: “I wasn’t pleased with the performance; I didn’t think we played well enough and I didn’t think we did both sides of the game well enough.
“I don’t think we did enough with the ball and without it. I didn’t think we got tight enough to our men or showed enough aggression.
“I think Hearts showed more than us and that’s really disappointing from my side because that shouldn’t happen in a derby, but it happened tonight and I thought we could have played better.”
The game was a typically rambunctious affair with little in the way of clear-cut chances for either side, especially in the first half.
“I was impressed with goalkeeper Dougie Horne; I thought he played quite well. His save from the free-kick in particular was outstanding. He is developing quite well at the moment and playing well and I thought he had a good game tonight.
“The penalties were soft if they were against you but the first one their player has kicked Jordon Forster in the head inside the box so that was a penalty kick.
“The second one he doesn’t go down but he was tripped inside the box so it was a penalty kick. For me both of them were penalty kicks – absolutely.
“Ross has been taking penalties for me since he was 15 or 16 at the under-17s and then the under-19s and under-20s and I’ve not seen him miss. He has scored every one and he is very cool from that distance.
“He wasn’t happy with his performance tonight, I thought he was okay, but he scores under pressure and again scores against Hearts and has some record against them.
“It was a very soft free-kick at the edge of our box and I thought we were a little bit naive in giving that free-kick away and in giving the ball away that led up to it and then we were poorly organised.
“But to be honest I didn’t think we deserved to win the game and the draw was probably the fair result, but when you are 2-1 up after 90 minutes you are disappointed not to win.”
“It is a sign of a good team when you don’t lose but also don’t play that well, I just thought tonight we didn’t look as good a team as I had hoped we did, we were disappointed drawing the game and it is a wee bit flat but it’s another point on the board so that’s better than nothing.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
