CHOKERS IN THE PACK
It’s the same old story for Hibs as they throw away a winning hand again
At 2-0 up, it’s down to us to manage the game better. We didn’t
PERHAPS the most damning thing about Hibernian’s collapse against Ross County was its inevitability. From the moment Brian Graham curled a sumptuous shot beyond Chris Maxwell to halve arrears, the entirety of Easter Road knew what was coming.
They had seen this movie before.
An air of anxiety smothered the stadium and Hibs head coach Paul Heckingbottom later conceded that his players were unable to deal with the mental aspect of holding on to a 2-1 lead against the newly promoted Highlanders.
For a club who nurse aspirations to challenge for silverware and European qualification, that was quite an indictment.
It was left to County midfielder Joe Chalmers to produce a 90th-minute firecracker from 30 yards to restore parity. From leading 2-0 with 75 minutes on the clock, courtesy of goals from Daryl Horgan and Scott Allan, Hibs had choked. Again.
The calls for Heckingbottom to go were as loud and clear as the psychological fragility of his team. Surrendering leads is becoming something of an unwanted speciality for Hibs, having dropped an incredible 13 points from winning positions already this season.
That is more than any other team in the Premiership.
‘At a club like Hibs, that’s got to be a worry,’ said on-loan defender Jason Naismith of their inability to finish off opponents. ‘We should be seeing that out. At 2-0 up, it’s down to us as players to manage the game better but we didn’t.
‘With the run we’ve been on, it’s natural to feel edgy — we need to cope with that better. We didn’t on Saturday and they’ve scored. That’s bitterly disappointing.
‘It’s just not going for us just now and it’s up to us, as players, to change it. We need to stand up and be counted.’
Without a Premiership victory since an opening-day win against St Mirren, Hibs remain in the relegation play-off place and faced with the challenge of overcoming a major crisis of confidence.
So, what was Heckingbottom’s take on all of this?
‘If you ask: “How do you get them to deal with that anxiety?” Well, if there was an easy answer to that, then we’d all be doing it. That’s the magic question,’ he replied. ‘What I’ve said to the players and staff, the way we change it is through wins. That’s it.’ Victory had appeared to be on the cards against County. Hibs had already struck the post through Melker Hallberg and seen Naismith and Florian Kamberi come close when Horgan climbed from the bench to give them a richly-merited lead five minutes after the half-time interval. The Irishman’s low finish from a prohibitive angle was clinical and was swiftly followed by Allan’s fifth goal of the season, with the mercurial playmaker dancing in from the left flank and arrowing a precise shot beyond former Hibs goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw from 25 yards. For the first time this term, Hibernian had the cushion of a two-goal lead in a league fixture. It should have brought a sense of security and stability. Instead, it just precipitated another case of the jitters.
Graham, on as a 64th-minute substitute to great effect, got County back into the game before Chalmers’ fizzed, dramatic leveller in the dying embers.
Jeers rung around Easter Road, supporters heckled Heckingbottom.
‘If you can’t handle that, you shouldn’t be playing at Hibs,’ insisted Naismith.
‘The fans have every right to moan and it’s up to us to show our composure and see out a game like that.
‘We need to keep believing. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. It’s about puffing the chest out and going again when we face Livingston on Wednesday night.’
The current malaise around Hibs was most ably articulated by the very man who sparked Ross County’s resurrection.
Rather twisting the knife, former Easter Road striker Graham described the atmosphere prior to the match as akin to ‘a morgue’ and happily acknowledged that it was County’s intention to feed off the discontent among the home supporters.
‘I think we all knew (about Hibs’ troubles),’ said Graham.
‘In the warm-up, it was like a morgue and it’s not usually like that at Easter Road.
‘The feeling about the place isn’t nice at the moment. They’ve not won in nine games and the fans demand more because they’re a big club.
‘When we got the first goal to come back, I think they sat back a wee bit and the fans got on their backs.
‘They were under a wee bit of pressure and we played off it.
‘We’re a smaller club so, let’s not kid ourselves, we’ve got to feed off that. I think it worked and we grew into the game a bit more.’
While Hibs must answer serious questions regarding their mettle, County answered any lingering ones following a 6-0 hammering against Celtic in their previous outing. Their fortitude in difficult circumstances shone through.
‘We could have crumbled,’ continued Graham. ‘But I don’t think that’s the true nature of the boys in our dressing room.’
HIBERNIAN (4-2-3-1): Maxwell 6; Naismith 7, Hanlon 6, Porteous 6, Stevenson 5; Vela 6, Hallberg 4 (Horgan 45); Allan 7 (Jackson 88), Mallan 6, Newell 6 (Murray 81); Kamberi 5. Subs not used: Marciano, James, Middleton, Shaw. Booked: Hallberg. ROSS COUNTY (4-4-1-1): Laidlaw 6; Fraser 6, Fontaine 6, Watson 6, Kelly 7; Foster 5 (Mullin 72), Draper 6, Spence 5 (Chalmers 72), Gardyne 6; Henderson 4 (Graham 64); Mckay 6. Subs not used: Grivosti, Spittal, Paton, Dixon-Hodge. Booked: Fontaine. Man of the match: Daryl Horgan. Referee: Steven McLean. Attendance: 15,452.