Troubles hit home for Gray and Hibs
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ANYONE wondering why Hibs are not candidates for automatic promotion didn’t have to look far for answers here. Alan Stubbs’ side have dropped 11 points in their seven matches at Easter Road, scoring just seven goals in those games. By contrast, Hearts have netted 22 times from one fixture fewer at Tynecastle. Hibs dominated possession but lacked the guile to unlock a well-drilled Queens defence and were jeered off at the end. Full-back David Gray acknowledged poor home form is continuing to haunt Hibs but believes they can pick up vital points in successive away matches at Dumbarton, Alloa and Falkirk. ‘Easter Road is a great place to play your football, with top fans and a good surface,’ he said. ‘There are no excuses not to be winning at home but going away might play into our hands — teams might come at us more, which will allow us to break on them. ‘The lads are disappointed. We didn’t create enough. There were a couple of chances but the quality in the final third and penetration just weren’t there. ‘Credit to the lads for working hard and dominating — it was never in doubt that we wouldn’t lose — but we never looked like scoring. ‘We can’t look at what Rangers and Hearts are doing. We were focused on going level with Queen of the South and it’s really disappointing not to have done that. I don’t think we can have any complaints. We didn’t do enough to win.’ Hibs copped a lucky break at the end of the first half when referee George Salmond failed to spot Liam Craig apparently striking John Baird with his hand. ‘To be honest, it was handbags,’ said Baird. ‘It was more of a slap than anything else. ‘I’d pulled his shirt to get in behind and I’ve spun him round and he’s just slapped my face. ‘I was angry at the time because he poked my eyes and I couldn’t see, but he’s not a nice guy to look at anyway, is he? The ref tried to calm it down but sometimes that makes things worse.’ Queens remain third and Baird believes promotion is possible. ‘That’s always been our main target,’ he said. ‘It’s a big ask because of the clubs in the division but we’ve got to aim for it. Results like this show we can get there. ‘We’ve scored more goals than Hibs and conceded fewer than them. People never really gave us a chance but we’re still three points ahead of them. ‘Hibs have improved massively from the team we beat in September but we’ve played them twice now and taken four points.’