Hibs U19s Head Coach Darren McGregor said he couldn’t ask for any more from his players as they fell just short of retaining the CAS Elite U19 League title.
Knowing they had to better Rangers’ result versus St Mirren, Hibs rushed into an early lead through Dean Cleland at Barrowfield – before a poor end to the first 45 saw Hibs trail at the break.
But McGregor’s youngsters fought to the very end to secure a 5-3 victory over the Hoops – with Lewis Gillie and Arran McSporran joining Cleland, who bagged a hat-trick, on the scoresheet.
Unfortunately, Rangers snatched a late winner against the Buddies to win the league title on goal difference.
Despite the disappointment of not lifting the CAS Elite Youth League trophy for a second consecutive season, McGregor remained delighted with his side’s showing.
“I thought the day was excellent,” he told Hibs TV. “I thought the lads started the game really, really well and then we had a wee wobble 20 minutes into the first half.
“We regrouped in the second half, and the second half probably encapsulated how we’ve been over the past couple of years. I thought we were absolutely excellent. Really, really positive in our actions.
“Obviously, at the end of the game, you’re awaiting to hear the result and, fortunate enough for Rangers, they scored in the last minute and they beat us at the final stretch of the race, which is unfortunate, but I can’t ask the lads to do any more.
“I said to the lads before the game started, we need to concentrate on ourselves and our performance and if we won, then we just need to see what we will be. I’m extremely proud of the lads over the course of the season.
“I think they’ve done really, really well and they need to learn from it because I do believe that sometimes in defeat, you can learn more than when you win. So, it’s just up to us to get better.
With Rangers still level at the break, McGregor admits he spoke a few “home truths” in hope of seeing a response from his squad as he has many times in the past.
The plan worked, with the youngsters putting on an exciting display after the interval to end the campaign in a very positive manner.
“There’s always going to be obstacles in football, there’s always going to be adversity. So, we take the lead and then we find ourselves 2-1 down at half-time, so, you regroup at half-time, you maybe tell a couple of home truths, you try and motivate the lads to say that if we’re going to get beat, you need to get beat in the right manner as well.
“I think the two [first-half] goals were preventable, the lads knew that. You’re just looking for a reaction, you’re looking for a reaction for the older ones and the younger ones. I feel we got that, I feel we changed the tide.
“At the end, I thought it was relatively comfortable, it was a really good performance. It was a great end to the season, just missing that cherry on the top.”
Gillie added: “The first 20 minutes we were very good, we got the goal, and then the second 25 of the half was just very poor.
“A bad clearance from me for the second goal. But then in the second half, we just came out and were like a different team. We scored all the goals and it was great.
“It felt really good [to score the equaliser], it just gave us a platform to go and score more goals.
“We’ve done what needed done. It was just up to St Mirren to hopefully go and beat them, but they never. Apparently they scored two screamers as well, so it’s tough.
“It’s tough on us, but it happens. It was a good season overall. It has been really great.
“Obviously going away in Europe, the team bonding that comes with that was really good. Then obviously playing against foreign teams, just a totally different competition I thought was really useful for us.
“We can take that annoyance and frustration, and then go next season and hopefully win the league.”
