Failure stalks Hibs side heading to Falkirk on mission to save season - talking points from Celtic loss
Discipline problems and an SPFL fixture fudge leave Gray’s men in tight spot
Success is arguably already out of reach, barring a turn of events that would make even this season of tumult veer towards the freakish end of bizarre. But failure? That continues to stalk every step of a Hibs team seemingly intent on tripping themselves up in the home stretch of a crazy campaign.
As a lesson in how quickly footballing fortunes can change, the hopes of thousands alternatively borne aloft by a lucky bounce and laid low by a handful of poor decisions, Hibs take some beating. If you’ll pardon that expression being used to describe a team who have now lost three on the bounce.
And now they face yet another make-or-break contest with the potential to define the entire season. If the rewards for victory get progressively smaller with each passing week, the stakes remain dangerously high.
So what did we learn from yesterday’s 2-1 home loss to Celtic? And where does it leave David Gray’s men with just three games remaining?
No lack of effort
For all the talk of lying down, Hibs put in a hard old shift yesterday. Well, most of them. Jamie McGrath barely worked up a sweat before going flying into the sort of daft challenge that leaves referees – with a little help from their video assistants – few options.
Was that tackle on Alistair Johnston a by-product of the build-up, when so much of the talk had been about whether Hibs would really want to win a game with the potential to impact on their old rivals’ title hopes? The Irishman certainly looked like someone trying to prove a point – in all the wrong ways.
The 10 men left on the park played well enough, in the circumstances. And the subs, well, they tried hard.
Joe Newell scoring his first goal since November of 2024 was a bonus. But both goals conceded gave Gray cause for concern. And Ante Suto had to do better with that late chance.
Once again, Hibs fans are reflecting on a performance of great effort. But a lack of quality in key areas.
Falkirk away again, thanks to the SPFL
With the Bairns just two points behind Hibs, thanks in part to their impressive win over Motherwell on Saturday, this weekend’s clash suddenly becomes massive for both clubs. And it underlines the inadequacy of an SPFL post-split fudge that hands a definite advantage to the home side, who will host Hibs for a third time this season.
Anything less than an away win will make the final two games – away to Rangers and at home to Motherwell – horribly uncomfortable for Hibs, who cannot afford to slip into sixth place. Even if Dunfermline pull off a Scottish Cup shock win over Celtic at Hampden later this month, denying the team finishing fifth a crack at European football next season, the prospect of Hibs dropping out of the top five is unthinkable.
Red card woes can’t be ignored
Gray isn’t brushing aside concerns over his team’s discipline. Even if he does accept that the four red cards picked up in the past three games represent a variety of different errors by the players involved.
The concern for the gaffer is that repeated individual mistakes – Grant Hanley getting his positioning horribly wrong at Aberdeen, Raphael Sallinger losing his bearings, Felix Passlack making a bad snap judgement and then McGrath losing his discipline – begin to look like a pattern. Which then prompts people to seek explanations and underlying reasons.
“Footballers make mistakes,” is the most logical and obvious cause of everything that has gone wrong, of course. But that doesn’t cut it with fans who are currently watching their nearest and dearest rivals chasing down a league title. Those are just the rules of rivalry.
Is it over yet?
Look on the bright side. Three games in a week, then the entire Scottish Premiership season will be finished with. One way or the other, you won’t have to think about football – Scotland’s crack at winning the World Cup aside – for months …
Actually, that’s not true. Should Hibs hang onto fifth, fans will have to at least pay passing attention to the Scottish Cup Final on May 23. After that, though, you can switch off.
Then again, all going well, you’ll be tuning into the draw for the UEFA Conference League second qualifying round on June 17. Exhausting, ain’t it?