Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Hanlon backs boss as team seek to upset odds
PAUL Hanlon has stressed that all the Hibernian players are fully behind under-fire manager Paul Heckingbottom.
The Easter Road side have won just one Ladbrokes Premiership game from 11 this season amid growing disgruntlement from the stands.
The Hibs boss slammed his side’s dismal first-half showing against Livingston on Wednesday night where they fell two goals behind before fighting back to draw 2-2.
Heckingbottom revealed afterwards that he had lost his cool with his under-performing players at the interval which was greeted by boos from the home fans.
Hanlon, speaking at a Betfred Cup media conference at Hampden Park ahead of the semi-final against holders Celtic on Saturday, insisted that the players had “100%” faith in Heckingbottom.
The 29-year-old defender said: “That’s not something that you want to hear being labelled against your team as a whole.
“It was something we looked to put right in the second half and something that we will be concentrating on this weekend.
“Individual mistakes or things have happened in games which have made the outcome not in our favour.
“Certain things in certain games have not gone our way. But I think there’s no doubting our effort and commitment and we showed that again during the week.
“If there was a team that wasn’t supporting the manager 100% it would have been easy to lay down and just accept that result.”
Celtic have won the last nine trophies in Scotland but Hanlon, taking confidence from the draw against the Hoops in September, is looking to cause a major upset.