Hibs’ midfielder John McGinn revealed that he got to bed at 3am on Saturday morning after travelling back to Edinburgh with the Scotland squad who lost to England on Friday night.
The youngster’s preparation wasn’t ideal for the game against Falkirk but the supporters more than appreciated his overall performance.
In fact, in the first minute McGinn proceeded to beat four Falkirk players before being brought down, a precursor to what would happen for the remainder of the game.
In the 23rd minute, former Hibs’ player Tom Taiwo was sent off for a reckless challenge on McGinn, sparking a mass brawl amongst both sets of players.
Falkirk boss Peter Houston claimed after the game that he would be appealing the decision however McGinn insisted that Taiwo had caught his ankle but he wasn’t convinced that the challenge merited a red card.
Speaking immediately after the game, McGinn said: “I got back to my flat at 3am. It wasn’t ideal but I got a decent sleep and felt all right on Saturday.
“It was a hectic day but I wanted to help the cause. I wouldn’t say I was 100 per cent but I was fit enough to play a part and I managed to squeeze in the 90 minutes.
“He (Tom Taiwo) caught my ankle. I’m not sure if it was red or yellow but the ref decided it was a sending off.
“We both went in hard and I’ve been having bother with my ankle, so I was more worried about that.
“Hibs v Falkirk games are always feisty.We are two good teams and Falkirk showed again they are capable of coming here and getting a result. They never make it easy and are always up for the battle but so are we.
“Every time there is a challenge, both teams are contesting it and that’s what we want to see.
“We were disappointed not to win the game, especially when we had an extra man for so long. We were just looking for that extra bit of quality.
“I felt we deserved three points. It was a silly goal to lose and it gave us a mountain to climb but we showed real character.
“It’s something we need to address but it was good to come back from that and Paul scored a good goal.
“Their keeper made a couple of good saves from me. It’s just unfortunate he wasn’t with the Irish squad!”
Although McGinn did not feature against England at Wembley, he has no complaints about the manager’s decision and he believes that the experience will stand him in good stead.
He continued: “It was still a good experience and I respect Gordon Strachan’s decision.
“There are a lot of really good players in the squad and I’m still young. I have a lot of time on my hands.
“I was lucky enough to be there all week and felt I trained well and learned a lot so there are more positives than negatives.
“Overall I felt we had the better chances and the boys who came in played really well.
“We had chances but we have to learn to take them and be a bit more clinical.”
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.
