Hanlon refuses to play blame game
DURING eight years of heady highs and desperate lows in Leith, Hibernian stalwart Paul Hanlon has never been one to shirk criticism. He is not about to start now.
The capital club, previously imperious in the Championship, succumbed to arguably the most eye-catching defeat in Scottish football on Saturday when Ayr United left Easter Road with a stunning triumph.
And the temptation to lay the blame squarely on the door of referee Nick Walsh or the ill-judged lunge of Marvin Bartley may have been strong, given the hosts were cruising with a one-goal lead prior to the midfielder’s dismissal on 68 minutes.
That red card prompted a seismic turnaround and goals from Conrad Balatoni and Brian Gilmour ensured an afternoon which began with Hibs seeking their best ever start to a league season with a sixth successive win, ended with Ayr celebrating their first win at Easter Road since 1978.
However, rather than cite Bartley’s ordering off as the defining moment of the contest, Hanlon showed typical introspection.
‘The sending off changed things a bit, but we should still have had enough to see out the game,’ he admitted.
‘I’m looking more at the things that happened after the sending off. The referee makes a decision and we need to adjust, we need to be good enough to handle that situation — and we weren’t.
‘The equaliser is a set-piece, then we have been caught with a breakaway. These things shouldn’t happen.
‘That (not reaching six successive league wins) is an added thing. Looking back now, it is probably something that makes the defeat an extra disappointment.’
When Jason Cummings curled home a magnificent left-footed drive from 25 yards in the second half — his eighth goal of an already prolific season — it looked like the floodgates would finally open.
However, the game was turned on its head when Walsh brandished a red card to Bartley following his reckless tackle on Jamie Adams.
Parity was restored when Balatoni benefited from some statuesque defending to head home a Gilmour corner-kick.
And the comeback was complete when Nicky Devlin left Lewis Stevenson for dead on the flank and provided a pinpoint cross for Gilmour, who made no mistake from eight yards.
The result serves to tantalisingly set up next week’s trip to Queen of the South for Hibs, with the Dumfries side — inspired by the mercurial Stephen Dobbie — having usurped Hibs at the summit of the Championship.
‘Queen of the South is always a tough one, ever since we were relegated that has never been an easy game,’ added Hanlon.
Match-winner Gilmour, meanwhile, insists he was utterly nonplussed that the Honest Men were written off before a ball was kicked and reckons the triumph proves the newly-promoted side are not in the Championship to make up the numbers.
‘I think it’s to be expected that no one would fancy us,’ he said. ‘That is the way it is always going to be. But we have belief in that dressing room that we can pick up points and consolidate our position in this league.’