... but Heckingbottom admits there’s nowhere to hide
EMBATTLED Hibs boss Paul Heckingbottom insists there can be ‘no hiding place’ after his team threw away all three points in an Edinburgh derby sickener at Easter Road. But he believes ‘100 per cent’ that he’s still the man to turn things around. A small group of fans staged a half-hearted protest targeted at Heckingbottom following yesterday’s loss to Hearts. Victory saw Craig Levein’s side raise themselves from the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table into eighth place — while plunging Hibs to second from bottom, just one point clear of St Johnstone. And the former Barnsley gaffer, who saw his team blow a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1, addressed fresh questions about his future by declaring: ‘We have to focus on our job, stand up, be strong, act like men and put it right. No hiding place. ‘Have I got confidence that I can turn it around? Yeah, no problem. I’ve got confidence but there’s no hiding place from what’s going on.’ Asked if club owner Ron Gordon and chief executive Leeann Dempster still had confidence in his ability, Heckingbottom said: ‘You would have to ask to sit them here to answer that. ‘I have no problems answering those questions. You will ask me them and I will answer — but you are asking the wrong person. ‘The minute I start worrying about that or making decisions based on that I am not doing my job. ‘My job, along with the staff and the players, is to put things right on the pitch. Other things are not our remit or our decision.’ Pushed again on whether he was still the right man, Heckingbottom — who takes his team to Rugby Park to face Kilmarnock in the Betfred Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday night — said: ‘Yeah, 100 per cent. ‘I’d love to see your face if I sat here and said otherwise. Again,
SOFT, slack, weak of will, low on energy when basic effort might have seen them through. Lacking in steely resolve. On an afternoon of unrelenting drama at Easter Road, Hibs were all of the above. And then some.
There are ways to lose. Types of defeat that can be written off as bad luck.
Throwing away a winning lead in a derby, the latest low of Paul Heckingbottom’s increasingly ill-fated reign as gaffer, does not fall into that category.
The Yorkshireman recognises as much. He understands that there are results which inevitably pile the pressure on.
And Heckingbottom is in no doubt that mentality, as much as physical fitness or footballing ability, will be either the salvation or damnation of a team now facing a genuine crisis.
‘That’s what the game is,’ said the former Barnsley and Leeds boss. ‘Any top level sport, the most important aspect of it is mental. Without a doubt — the most important aspect.
‘Then you go through times, we’ve all done it, I have as a player and a manager, when things aren’t going your way. You’ve got to stand up.
‘What you can’t do is sit and wait and hope. You can’t sit and wait and hope to win the next game. You have to fight with everything you can to win it.
‘But that’s not just me. That’s every player and every member of staff. It’s a collective. Sometimes you don’t get what you deserve, but, over a longer period, you will. So you just have to fight.’
A lack of fight ultimately did for Hibs yesterday. The better team when they went one up, it would be too simplistic to say they were simply dragged into a bareknuckle battle by Hearts.
But a couple of substitutions and a tactical switch by the visitors seemed to energise the men in maroon. Leaving the home side looking entirely flat and, to be blunt, more than a little unfit.
Heckingbottom, who finally emerged to fulfil media duties more than an hour after the final whistle, knows that difficult decisions will now need to be made.
If he is to quell talk of the board ditching him, he will have to look at serious changes to a starting XI that pointedly did not include a number of his big summer signings.
‘You’ve got to look at that, without a doubt,’ he admitted. ‘We have to change. You might say the players let us down. But it’s our responsibility. It’s my responsibility. I have to do that. ‘That’s why you can understand the fans, you can understand their frustrations — we go through it as well. ‘And it’s our job to make the changes. Whether they’re short-term in terms of shaking it up or long-term, people have to step up. ‘At the minute, players have been getting opportunities. Other players might get opportunities — and then it’s up to them to step up and hold the place down in the team. ‘I’m looking at the attacking players on the pitch. How many shots did they have on goal, the attacking players? How often did they really work their keeper? ‘Again, that’s not a tactical issue in terms of getting up the pitch, getting into positions. ‘Belief, quality, a real desire to score a goal. That’s what you need. There’s got to be a conviction in both boxes.’ Goalscorer Stevie Mallan sought to at least offer some defence of the coaching staff, insisting: ‘It’s not just the manager. Everyone is in it together.
‘It isn’t just the manager, it’s every player that is under pressure. We are under pressure for our positions as well.
‘He has to find his best XI — and right now the boys on the park aren’t doing it.
‘If we win a game everyone gets the accolades and when you lose it should be felt throughout the whole team. I don’t think it’s fair to single out the manager, it is every player who deserves it as well.’
Hibs fans are unlikely to disagree with this desire to apportion out the blame, many having forcefully demonstrated their displeasure with the whole lot long before full-time sounded in Leith.
For some, Aaron Hickey’s winning goal was preceded by something even more galling — the sight of big Uche Ikpeazu, who had already bagged an equaliser, indulging in stepovers on the edge of the box.
‘Sometimes when you are feeling confident then it’s good to bring out some flair,’ said the big Harrow-born Nigerian, with a wide grin.
Talk about rubbing it in.