Ross livid at lack of ruthlessness as United snatch a point at death
PREMIERSHIP
HIBERNIAN 1
Magennis 13
DUNDEE UNITED 1
Bolton 90
A month ago, Hibs trudged off the Easter Road pitch gutted by the loss of a last-gasp equaliser against Celtic.
Then, boss Jack Ross said, despite the frustration, it was a day to accentuate the positives.
On Saturday, having watched his side succumb to a similarly late sucker punch, this time against Dundee United, there was less benevolence.
Instead of focusing on the way his players started on the front foot, immediately testing Benjamin Siegrist in the away goal, or the ease with which they controlled play in the opening 45 minutes and significant spells of the second, he was livid his men had not been able to make that count for more, bemoaning the lack of ruthlessness whichul timately allowed their guests to come back at them and snatch an unlikely share of the points, courtesy of Luke Bolton.
The fact it denied them the chance to move into second, above Celtic, and left the door open for Aberdeen to edge ahead of them on Sunday and leave them sitting fourth, exacerbated his exasperation.
Battering the United goal from the second minute, they were repelled by the reflexes and ability of United’s Swiss keeper, who pulled off two stunning double save sand weighed in with a few more laudable blocks.
But, while it was accepted there were moments of brilliance, Hibs should have been able to put the match well out of their opponents’ grasp.
The worry for Ross will be the frequency with which his side have been unable to do that at home this season.
On the road in the league, they have won seven and drawn one of their 10 games. At home, they have triumphed in just two games, and drawn five. Meaning that while the campaign has been a positive one, there remains plenty of room to improve, especially, as Ross has often acknowledged, because football is a results industry.
That made his post-match anger understand able, according to winger Mar tin Boyle, who contributed to the profligacy.
“I think all the lads knew what he was going to say and what the feeling was,” he said. “We knew we didn’t take our chances and we got punished.
“Their keeper had one of those performances, it was phenomenal. But we should have scored. We need to be ruthless. We need to do more to put teams away. It was a dominant performance until the 92nd minute and then we do something stupid, switch off and drop two points.”
Hibs took the lead in the 12th minute, when Kyle Magen - nis’ s delivery into the area narrowly evaded Christian Doidge, who should have had at least a couple of goals, but sneaked into the net anyway.
After that, a glut of Hibs players were foiled by Siegrist and the absence of a clinical finish. Their hope is it does not come back to bite them.
“If you want to compete with thebes tin the league, you can’t afford those slip -ups,” accepted Boy le .“It could be the difference between third and fourth. We have been in this position before, when we dropped points and we were punished.”