LOOKS LIKE LONG HAUL FOR LIMP HIBS

HIBERNIAN may have got out of jail when Falkirk failed to beat Raith in the evening kick-off but Bob McHugh’s dramatic late equaliser for the Bairns would still have been a dagger to the heart for Alan Stubbs’ men after a tough day at Cappielow. Morton were determined and well organised but, despite having nothing but pride to play for, seemed to want victory more than the visitors. The adrenalin rush evident in Hibs’ previous week’s wins against Dundee United and Rangers was missing here and Stubbs will have his hands full coping with what looked like burn-out. His team have already played 47 games this season but finishing third could mean there will be another nine to face in the space of 29 days, beginning with Dumbarton at Easter Road tomorrow night. Winning that and beating Queen of the South at home on Sunday would guarantee they at least match Falkirk’s points total — but they will need to go some to overcome the seven-goal advantage enjoyed by the Bairns. A repeat of their display against Morton certainly won’t help. ‘It was disappointing,’ admitted skipper Paul Hanlon. ‘The pitch was lively and there were times we didn’t control the ball as well as we could have. ‘We didn’t do enough in their penalty area and, all over the pitch, we were a bit flat. But we’re still in with a chance and we’ll keep going and see what happens. ‘It was great Raith did us a favour. Now all we can do is win our last two games and hope that gets us second place. ‘We need to win them both, obviously — that’s the only thing we can control. ‘It’s going to be a busy end to the season and the manager told us not to get too down about this result. ‘We’ll be back in on Sunday to have a recovery session and be ready for Dumbarton on Tuesday.’ Worryingly for Stubbs, Morton keeper Derek Gaston had only one save to make — from a long-range drive by Anthony Stokes. The hosts could easily have won when Bobby Barr’s shot beat Mark Oxley but came back off the inside of his right-hand post. But Hanlon (left) claimed: ‘I always felt if anyone was going to score it would be us. We didn’t feel under pressure at any time in the game. ‘Unfortunately, there was a lack of quality and wrong decisionmaking at times in the final third and that’s what cost us.’ Stubbs was unhappy, though, when assistant ref Sean Carr raised his flag to disallow a Jason Cummings’ ‘goal’ for offside. ‘I was at the other end of the pitch at the time but it was Lewis Stevenson who played the reverse pass and that’s the sort of chance Jason lives for,’ said Hanlon. ‘Naturally, it’s disappointing for it to be ruled offside but I’ll need to see it again.’ Oxley could at least celebrate a first clean sheet in over two months but that was a rare plus point for Hibs. ‘It was frustrating,’ he admitted. ‘We can’t blame the pitch because that’s what you come up against as the season progresses. ‘We can use these things as excuses or rise above it. We’ve had a lot of games recently and we found it difficult to open Morton up.’