Pressure mounts on Heckingbottom

IF this Betfred Cup semi-final was supposedly a chance to give Hibs fans something to cheer about amid a dismal league campaign, the concession of five goals had the opposite effect. It only added to the mounting pressure on boss Paul Heckingbottom, who hasn’t won a league match since the first game of the season and is fighting for his job. A decision on his future at Easter Road could come in the next 48 hours. His team had their chances against Celtic and, to their credit, fought to the end. But they looked out of their depth for long periods, especially in the first half. Asked specifically about Heckingbottom’s future after Saturday’s 5-2 defeat, defender Paul Hanlon said: ‘I don’t know, to be honest. It’s not something for me to comment on. ‘We’re just bitterly disappointed not to be in a cup final. We gave it our all but conceding three goals in the first half put us on the back foot. ‘It put us in a difficult position, so we had to go for it and were even more open in the second half. ‘It left a lot of space for Celtic to exploit. But we had to go for it, there was a cup final place up for grabs. ‘We had a couple of chances at 4-2 that could have made it interesting towards the end but they got the fifth goal and that was it. ‘When you play a team like Celtic, you need to be at it for 90 minutes as they have players who can hurt you, even when you’re at your best. It was a difficult day.’ Hanlon admitted ‘standards have dropped’ at times this season and that Heckingbottom’s (right) team haven’t performed well for a full game recently. ‘This was a chance to get to a cup final but it’s gone now and it’s important to start putting points on the board in the league,’ said the 29-year-old centre-back. ‘It’s down to small margins. We’ve had a lot of draws in there. But we’ve definitely dropped our standards in games, like Livingston when losing two quick goals really put us on the back foot. ‘We need to cut it out right away and put in a 90-minute performance, which we haven’t done for a while.’ At 1-0 up through Mohamed Elyounoussi, Celtic were dominant and looking for more. Their second goal, following an aerial pass over the defence by Christopher Jullien which fell to Odsonne Edouard and was finished by Callum McGregor, clearly took the wind from Hibs’ sails at Hampden. However, replays showed Edouard was offside and Hanlon thought so on the pitch. Melker Hallberg pulled one back for Hibs, but Elyounoussi scored his second just before half-time, with Flo Kamberi hitting a consolation for Hibs in between a rare Scott Brown double. ‘There were a lot of claims for offside for the second goal and I thought he was at the time,’ said Hanlon. ‘But their third goal was a killer.’