HIBS MANAGER DEFIANT AFTER LATE STUMBLE
Hibs boss to fight on but fans voice their anger
IT would have been a kindness had the headset connecting the Hibs manager to the home dugout been equipped with noise-cancelling technology.
This was a day when the discord brewing among the Easter Road supporters boiled over into an unpleasant assault on the ears — boos, jeers and ultimately crude chants telling Paul Heckingbottom where to go were voiced loudly by the unhappy natives.
After watching his team throw away a two-goal lead that ought to have yielded the club’s first Premiership win since the opening day of the campaign, the Hibs boss admitted he felt ‘helpless’ as he sat watching from the directors’ box.
Yet with his two-match touchline suspension now served and a midweek visit of Livingston to come ahead of next weekend’s Betfred Cup semi-final clash with Celtic, he is in no mood to quit.
‘I can’t demand more from the players and then give less myself,’ he said of the suggestion he might feel inclined to walk. ‘So absolutely not. We have to fight and stand up.
‘I felt helpless. And hearing the fans, it’s not nice, of course it’s not, but it’s part of the job.
‘How do we get their confidence back? If that was easy to do, we’d all be doing it, dealing with the anxiety. It’s the magic question.
‘I’ve told the players and the staff the only way to change it is to win.’
It seemed like a half-time substitution might do the trick, with Daryl Horgan coming on to open the scoring before Scott Allan extended the lead in short order.
That ought to have been enough but the nerves crept in as Ross County adjusted, abandoned their own containment policy and claimed a point through lovely goals by substitutes Brian Graham and Joe Chalmers.
At no stage would you have guessed Hibs are gearing up for a Hampden semi-final. Not from the uneasy atmosphere enveloping the stadium and certainly not from the edgy performance that was briefly electrified by the introduction of Horgan at half-time.
For County, a team that had started the season so well that a top-half finish has looked a realistic target, there was a need to steady the ship after a harrowing 6-0 defeat to Celtic last weekend.
They played it safe in a tepid first half, contributing little in an attacking sense while Hibs made most of the running, hitting the bar with Melker Hallberg’s free-kick and coming close through Florian Kamberi and Jason Naismith. Heckingbottom made his move at the break, replacing Hallberg with Horgan. The substitution yielded an instant reward. Naismith slung an inviting ball over the top for the winger to chase but there was still plenty to do as he advanced on goal. The angle didn’t look entirely favourable but the Irishman was bold with the finish, drilling it low under Ross Laidlaw. County could not readjust before falling further behind. Pouncing on a loose ball, Allan drifted inside, constantly checking for a pass until the only option left was to shoot, his 20-yard shot nestling in the keeper’s right-hand corner.
Kamberi should have made it three when set up at the back post but horribly mis-kicked his first shot before sending his second effort screaming off the post.
The original game-plan now redundant, County’s co-managers Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson turned to striker Graham, a former Hibs player, to change the complexion of the game. His impact was as telling as Horgan’s.
After shanking his first promising chance wide, the beanpole forward gathered the ball and turned in a neat semi-circle to curl a fine finish into the far corner.
Had he buried an easier opportunity from Sean Kelly’s cross a couple of minutes later, County would surely have bounded on to victory. Instead, it took the intervention of another substitute to grab a point at the death.
A weak headed clearance from Fraser Murray was gathered by Marcus Fraser, who teed up Chalmers for the powerful, precise finish that secured a happy trek north for the Staggies and left
Heckingbottom to endure that horrible refrain.
If the players look fragile, Horgan, for one, remains wholly in his boss’s corner.
‘I’m a massive fan of the manager,’ said the goalscorer. ‘He and Robbie Stockdale have been brilliant since they’ve come in.
‘Football is a funny and immediate game. Last season, it was: “Heckingbottom’s at the wheel”. He was the next great manager in Scotland and everything was rosy.
‘A couple of months down the line, people want him out. He’s a good manager, he’s proven that at Barnsley and proved it last year.
‘We’ve done him no favours today. When we were 2-0 up and flying, he’s back at the wheel. The game ends 2-2 and he’s the world’s worst.
‘We’re not far away but I’ve been saying that too long. We have to get over the line. Every game is getting bigger. We have a massive one against Livingston on Wednesday.’