DON’T BLAME GAFFER – WE ARE AT FAULT
STEVIE MALLAN insists blame for a derby defeat for Hibs shouldn’t be laid squarely on the shoulders of boss Paul Heckingbottom.
The Easter Road midfielder’s 30-yard thunderbolt edged his side ahead only to suffer a collapse which allowed Hearts to take the points back to the Gorgie end of the capital.
But Mallan admits his moment of brilliance means nothing on the back of a result which heaps more pressure on his under-fire manager.
He said: “It’s not just the manager, everyone is in it together. Every player is under pressure for their positions.
“The gaffer has to find his best XI and right now the boys on the park just aren’t doing it.
“If we win a game then everyone gets the accolades and when you lose it should be felt throughout the whole team as well.”
And while the former St Mirren and Barnsley man was delighted to find the net with that impressive strike, Mallan believes Hibs switched off and allowed their bitter rivals back in to it.
He said: “When you score a goal like that you want the accolades that come after it.
“But it’s a team game and we have shot ourselves in the foot with the defeat. It wasn’t good enough from us.
“As soon as we scored we let Hearts get the ball and let them come into the game. Instead, we BY GORDON PARKS should be capitalising on scoring first. It just didn’t happen.”
Mallan also believes Hibs failed to make the most of several decent opportunities to push the game out of sight
And he reckons that wasteful nature in front of goal is another reason for their derby defeat and run of frustrating and damaging results.
He said: “We had a couple of chances in the first-half and another chance in the secondhalf and maybe if we had taken them we could be cheering now and not mulling over a defeat.
“You have to take your chances, especially in big games like this.
“They are the moments that matter. Yes, I got a goal, but throughout the team we could have got a few more and killed off the game.
“We could have killed off the Hearts attacks as well. We didn’t do that.
“Slowly but steadily they came into the game in the last 20 minutes and got a couple of goals.
“It just wasn’t good enough from ourselves, especially in that period of the game when we should have been seeing the game out.
“There were vital moments in the game where we should have done better.
“We should have done an awful lot better in these moments and we should have defended a lot better as well.” BY GORDON PARKS UCHE IKPEAZU hopes a derby win over Hibs can banish the demons that have haunted Hearts and boss Craig Levein this season.
The towering Jambos striker’s leveller at Easter Road triggered a fightback against Hibs he hopes will provide a platform for something so much better and bring an end to the trials and tribulations.
Fan protests, calls for Levein’s head and a statement of support from owner Ann Budge all heaped pressure on the boss in the lead up to the first capital clash of the season against their rivals.
But Ikpeazu is adamant a result in Leith yesterday wasn’t about saving the gaffer from the chop but proving the blame for a dismal run belongs at the feet of the players.
He said: “I will be absolutely transparent. We haven’t done well enough for the team.
“Collectively as a team and as individuals. The gaffer can send out a team and then it’s up to us and if we keep on making mistakes it’s not the manager’s fault. In the games we’ve played we’ve made mistakes and we have been over that.
“We spoke about cutting out the mistakes and if we didn’t make those mistakes then we’d be further up the league.
“I like the gaffer and we, as a team, haven’t done well enough. He deserves better as he’s a good guy.
“It makes me feel so bad because at the end of the day it is a results business and he is going to get all the stick. I don’t think that’s fair. We as players have to take responsibility and I have to take responsibility.
“It’s the first win, it’s a big win. We just have to kick on because we have a quality team.”
The significance of a triumph over their city rivals can’t be underestimated for Levein or his players and now the hope for Ikpeazu is that it’s used as a building block to get the club climbing up the table.
It was a sweet moment for the Englishman to savour as he baled out his boss with a goal and an assist and he’s adamant at no time during the turbulent few weeks has Levein allowed anyone to see he was feeling the pressure. He said: “The gaffer is the same all over. Win, lose or draw – he tells us to keep going and he encourages us. We need to do better. It starts today. “We have gone over the games, it’s mistakes that have cost us. Giving the ball away myself last week and missing headers, stuff like that. It has been a catalogue of errors. That is what the manager asked of us as individuals – to cut out errors. We must take responsibility.
“He has just tried to encourage us. He has been brilliant to be fair.”
It’s now back to back goals for Ikpeazu since returning to the Hearts line-up after injury and he’s also on a recovery mission to prove he’s capable of playing a central role in ensuring the crisis of recent months is consigned to history.
He said: “I haven’t really played that much football in the last month but I believe in myself and