Ross urges side to master art of winning ugly
Jack Ross last night urged Hibs to be brave enough to win ugly.
Ross’ super-slick Hibees appeared to be cruising to a fourth straight league win after racing into a two-goal lead against Kilmarnock.
But after conceding with half-an-hour to go, they fell apart.
Repeated poor decisions in possession gifted Killie chance after chance, the last of which was smashed home in time added on.
And Ross reckons his players – who made conceding late a habit under previous gaffer Paul Heckingbottom – need to learn to play the percentages.
“It’s something I’d not paid much attention to,” he said.
“The only thing I can affect is what’s happened since I took job.
“But I’d been aware there had been that scenario (conceding late goals).
“There can be reasons for it, but I can only look at that little last part of the game when we’d weathered the worst and decision-making cost us.
“People talk about bravery to play and we showed a lot of that, but you need bravery to make those ugly decisions that win you matches.
“Several minutes before we conceded we had possession in the middle. Maybe you play forward into space but these comments are made with hindsight.
“I’ve told the players there’s nothing we can do now to affect the last 90 seconds, it’s not about dwelling on it, it’s about affecting Wednesday.”
Should Hibs recreate their dominant performance from the opening 60 minutes against Killie, they will cause Ross County serious problems at the Global Energy Stadium on Wednesday night.
That, rather than recriminations over Killie, will be the message Ross hammers home to his players in the coming days.
“A lot of time in football we forget the first part of games,” he said.
“It’s why players get man of the match awards after doing well late on.
“I don’t want to forget how good we were early on against a side that has had plaudits.”
Meanwhile, jubilant Killie gaffer Angelo Alessio hailed his players’ never-say-die spirit.
“After Bruce scored, the team believed they could come back into the game,” he said.
“It was a bad first half for us.
“I didn’t recognise my team.
“What happened? It wasn’t good.
“The beginning of the second half started the same way, then we played. It was a different game for us.
“I think the team believed they could come back in the game and this happened in the last seconds.”