Hibs’ Head Coach Jack Ross admitted that his team had not played well in yesterday’s Betfred League Cup win over Cove Rangers at the Balmoral Stadium but he praised the players’ character for coming back from a goal down to secure the three points.
Danny Higgins’s free-kick gave Cove the lead midway through the first-half and only a fine save from Dillon Barnes moments later saved Hibs from going two goals down.
Ross made a tactical change for the second half which paid immediate dividends when substitute Jamie Gullan equalised three minutes after the restart and prolific striker Kevin Nisbet scored the winner 12-minutes later.
Hibs now travel to face Forfar Athletic on Tuesday night ahead of next weeks trip to Dimngwall to face Ross County in the league.
After the final whistle Ross told Premier TV: “ I’m just pleased to win the game. You can’t always win a game playing well but we showed character to respond to being behind but we didn’t play well for any part of the game today. We found a lot of elements of the game tough.
“We had a few players who weren’t quite at it but the most important thing is winning matches and we did that today.
“I expected the game to be difficult for us. We had to patch the side up and play people in positions they weren’t used to, and we didn’t look comfortable in the first half in particular.
“In the second half we did better without playing well. I was really critical of the players at half time because I thought we were so far away from being at a level of performance that we need to be.
Character wise we showed that in abundance to come from behind.
“Half time allowed us the opportunity to get Jamie (Gullan) on the pitch. He’s a good young player who has done very well for me so to that that we had to adjust.
“We had a right back playing centre back and a midfielder playing right back and so on. It was worth it to get him on the pitch and it paid off when he got himself on the scoresheet but his overall contribution in the second half was good as well
“When you are not playing well you need at the top end of the pitch to have players who can make the difference and we feel as if we have got that within the squad and Kevin (Nisbet) showed that again today.
“His overall performance wasn’t at a level it’s been at but at that moment he showed why he is doing so well this season.”
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.
