Hibs head coach David Gray admitted that his side deserved to leave Perth with nothing after yesterday’s 2-1 defeat to St Johnstone.
The hosts took the lead through Josh Fowler with a close-range finish.
Nathan Lowe levelled proceedings before Martin Boyle was penalised for a foul in the penalty area just before half-time, with Fowler converting to restore the home side’s lead.
Despite an improved second-half showing Hibs failed to take our chances and left McDiarmid Park empty-handed.
Speaking to Hibs TV after the match, Gray shared his frustrations on the first-half performance and the manner of the goals conceded.
He said: “I think it’s clear for everyone to see. I think the two goals St Johnstone scored in the first half summed up our first-half performance, to be honest.
“I thought it was passive, and I thought St Johnstone didn’t have to work hard to score their goals.
“That’s really tough to take, especially off the back of the disappointment of losing against our local rivals on Thursday night. That makes it even harder to take.
“I just thought across the board, our distances were too big.
“I felt we were second to second balls again, and we didn’t show enough aggression or desire to make sure of anything.
“Everything was just too slow, and we were waiting for other people to take responsibility within the team.
“That was clearly the issue in the first half.
“I thought it was better again in the second half. But ultimately, I can’t stand here and say we deserved to win the game.”
Gray was particularly disappointed with the lack of reaction shown from his side after a poor result in midweek – and admits everyone needs to stick together amidst adversity.
He added: “We gave up a few chances on the break as well, but the reality is that’s back-to-back defeats, and it compounds the disappointment because of Thursday and failing to get the reaction that I was looking for today.
“Everything I spoke about before, about the game coming quickly, not having time to dwell on the previous result and getting back out there to try and put it right as quickly as you can – everything you hope to get, I certainly didn’t get in the first half.
“At times, the players are capable of doing it, which makes it tough because we spoke about that, knowing that we’d done that at Dundee.
“I know it is in there, and I know there is a good group here that will turn it round.
“We also need to accept it – I certainly need to accept it. That’s back-to-back defeats. At this stage, it’s extremely disappointing, and we need to put it right as quickly as we can.
“I’ve been here long enough. I’ve been through adversity. I’ve been through highs and lows at this Football Club.
“The frustration and the noise that will come and the negativity around it right now are completely understandable.
“I know that, and I definitely own that. I think what I would say is, moving forward, we need to put this right as quickly as we can.
“I believe in the group. There’s always context to everything – I’m certainly not going to make an excuse for the last couple of results.
“There’s also been really high moments and positive moments to take already at this early stage of the season that show that we can turn this around and will turn this around.
“I really believe that with what’s in the group and the togetherness within it.
“That’s what it takes. It takes every single person pulling together, getting straight back in the building, getting straight back at it, to do everything we can to turn this around quickly.
“We’ve got an opportunity to do that next week. We’ve got a chance to get to the semi-final, which is something that the Club hasn’t done in the last couple of seasons.
“I also don’t want people to just think that I’ll move on from this and just look straight toward that, or just hope that we turn up next weekend.
“I’m going to do everything in my power as a group to make sure we get this right and to make sure that happens.”
