Nowhere near good enough, says bemused Holt
NORMALLY so strong on home turf, Gary Holt admitted he did not recognise the Livingston team that was taken apart by Hibs on their first home assignment of the season.
Holt’s side boasted the best Premiership home record outwith the Old Firm last term but were three goals down by half-time in a one-sided contest that saw Hibs new boy Kevin Nisbet rattle home a hat-trick.
The congratulations surrounding last term’s fifth-placed finish are already ringing hollow for the manager.
‘The question is what went right, never mind what went wrong. We were not good enough, simple as that,’ said Holt.
‘I will look at myself and others have to do the same. I am a firm believer that if you have the jersey, you work hard to stay in the team, so I have asked them to go home and ask themselves: “Did I do my job to the best of my ability and do I deserve to be playing in the next game?”
‘I have to watch what I say. We are just two games in but that is not us. I told them that.
‘All the good work we did last season, forget it. Fifth place was last season. It’s done.’
As Holt faces up to a rotten start, his Hibs counterpart Jack Ross was revelling in a fine day that saw his team reach the summit of the Premiership table.
Hibs couldn’t beat Livingston in three attempts last term but this was a powerful performance that augurs well for the campaign ahead.
‘We struggled here last season and Livingston’s record here overall is brilliant,’ said Ross. ‘So we looked long and hard at it, picked a team that we felt would deal with them in possession and then let us do what we wanted to do when we had the ball.
‘We wanted to get the ball wide and into the box. To do that, you need two strikers on the park. On another day, it might not have worked but today it worked a treat for us.
‘I’m frustrated for the defence that they don’t have that tangible reward of a clean sheet as I thought they deserved it today.
‘I thought they defended brilliantly as it’s not easy here. Ofir Marciano had to be big and strong in goal and the back four and midfielders, as well as strikers at set-pieces, all did their bit. The balance of the team is good and Alex Gogic has helped us with that.’