Hibs’ Head Coach Jack Ross was happy with the reaction of his players after going behind to Rangers last night following their capitulation to St Johnstone in the Betfred Cup semi-final defeat to St Johnstone at the weekend.
Ross was angry at that defeat and publicly criticised his players after that match but last night they fought to the end and whilst t wasn’t enough to secure a share of the points he felt that their performance was important.
The game hinged on a poor refereeing decision by Kevin Clancy who should have sent off Rangers’ striker Alfredo Morelos after only 10-minutes but despite being in the perfect position to see the incident, he decided that the ‘stamp’ on Ryan Porteous did not even merit a yellow card.
Hibs now face Dundee United at Tannadice on Saturday and the Tangerines will be hurting from their 5-1 home defeat to St Mirren last night.
After the final whistle Ross told Sky Sports: “I wanted the reaction from us from the weekend and I think we got that. We put a lot into the game. It was a difficult night in terms of the pitch which is not in great condition at the moment but you have to play the conditions and we were highly competitive.
“Our worst spell in the game coincided with when we conceded bit prior to that and the reaction to it was positive so I think for us, disappointed at the end result but a lot of positives to take from the game.
“I just asked the referee whet he thought of it (Morelos stamp) which had a very obvious impact on the game and it’s a red card. It’s very simple. I’m not going to be over the top about it because it’s happened to one of my players this season in this fixture so I’ll be dignified about it and say it’s quite simply a red card and that’s it but it’s been missed and it’s a mistake by the official and so be it.
“He said he thought it was a tangle of legs but in his defence he has seen it in real time very quickly but it’s a mistake however we should have defended the goal better so the player that scores the goal shouldn’t be on the pitch but it happened and we should have defended it properly.
“Tonight was a real test for us (after the manner of the St Johnstone defeat). We were up against a really good team and then we go behind at the start of the second-half but we did keep that faith in what we wanted to do and I think that desire to keep doing that is the reason why we pushed Rangers all the way and we tried to get something from the game.
“I think that there was a good and positive reaction from us and that type of performance has got to continue between now and the end of the season.
“Given what’s happened to us in the last few days the performance tonight was really important.
“We have also had a spell of fixtures, in the last six we have played Rangers twice and Celtic at Parkhead so it’s been a tough run of games. So we draw breath now and I think the performance will allow the players to stabilise that belief in themselves. We have done a lot of good things this season and it’s important to replicate them over the remaining games.”
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.
