Ross refuses to panic as top-six hopes suffer another blow

JACK ROSS is calm about Hibernian’s top six prospects after a ‘sore’ week suffering back-to-back 3-1 defeats.

Talked up as European place candidates, yesterday’s collapse at Pittodrie followed a home midweek Edinburgh derby loss to relegation strugglers

Hearts and let St Johnstone move just a point behind with a game in hand.

Saints travel to Easter Road on Saturday, a game Ross believed some time ago would be pivotal to their top-half ambitions.

‘I always felt it would be the case anyway when you looked at Kilmarnock and St Johnstone’s form of late,’ said Ross.

‘So it never felt there were six teams clear of the others. I think the league has remained incredibly tight all year from third downwards and it will continue to be so.

‘The good thing is it is in our hands, rather than having to chase something. It’s one I think we’ll handle okay.’

Ross (below) admitted his team were not resolute enough in adapting to having 10 men in the aftermath of Steven Whittaker’s dismissal.

‘I’m not arguing with the bookings for Steven — but I might have a case to argue with some of the ones that weren’t given over the course of the game,’ he said.

‘There’s an inconsistency over why yellow cards are awarded that I can’t get my head around. It turned the game because I thought prior to that we were the better team. And in the early part of the second half, we looked comfortable.

‘So the sendingoff is pivotal but you can still win a game with 10 men. I’ve been in charge of teams that have done it, I have seen teams do it.

‘So we need to be better with our response to adversity, if you like. We’re a good team and we showed that for the first hour of the game, our response to Tuesday night was excellent.

‘But that period immediately after the sending-off is the one that costs us the game. And the goals were pretty soft.’

Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes was full of admiration for the way his players seized on the 55th-minute turning point to arrest their ghastly run of four successive Premiership defeats at home.

‘The intelligence of the team was what impressed me,’ he explained. ‘We carried a threat in the wider areas, got pressure in the box.

‘We had it all to do in the second half and the players did it brilliantly. I thought the scoreline played out as a deserved one in the end.

‘I’m running out of things to say about Lewis Ferguson. He was outstanding.

‘I thought Dylan McGeouch and Funso Ojo were terrific, too. Our midfield was very good.’