Jack Ross admits red card was justified

Hibs’ Head Coach Jack Ross was disappointed in his team’s performance
in last night’s 3-0 defeat to Rangers at Easter Road and admitted that Ryan
Porteous’ red card was merited.

Following an ill-tempered 90 minutes on an off the park Ross
said: “We were a long way short of where we need to be to give ourselves a chance
of winning tough matches.

“This was going to be a tough match and obviously when you
concede two goals as early as we did and in the manner we did, it becomes
hugely difficult to take something from the game.

“We’ve played the top two in the country and they put
contact on you, in the best possible way.

“They’re aggressive in how they get after the ball and
that’s what you need. That’s overlooked at times. People look at how good
football teams are but they do that part well. We were lacking that and we’re
going to have to have that on Boxing Day.

Defender Porteous was sent off for a challenge on Rangers
Borna Barisic midway through the second half and will now miss the Boxing Day
derby with Hearts at Tynecastle.

When asked to comment on the incident Ross continued: “In
real time, I am a good distance away from the incident and I’m at pitch level.
But I have watched it again and it’s fine, it’s a red card. The pace Ryan goes
in at and he goes in high.

“It’s an error of judgment from him but I am not going to
hang him out to dry because he is a young man. People say young men make
mistakes. You make mistakes all through your life and your career.

“It’s how you react and learn from them, that will be the
key thing for Ryan. It about how he reacts because it obviously left us in an
even more difficult position in the game.”

“The consequences in the short term made that last part of
the game challenging and we had to dig in. The further consequences are that we’ve
got Hearts and Livingston and depending on what it’s deemed as he could be
missing for both, but having him out for Boxing Day is a blow.

“I like him a lot. It’s not brushing it under the carpet.
I’ve spoken to him and will do again. It’s about how he learns from it.”