Hibs blunder boys warned places at risk as frustrated Gray loses patience

Ekpiteta, beaten to the ball for Celtic's second, was culpable for the home side's third. | SNS Group

Frustrated Hibs boss David Gray has put his error-strewn squad on notice as he continues to bring in new faces. And he’s warned that he can’t keep picking guys if they’re going to make costly mistakes.

Speaking after a 3-1 Premier Sports Cup loss to Celtic in Glasgow, a game where a lot of good work had been undone by Marvin Ekpiteta gifting Celtic a third goal with Hibs hanging in at 2-1 down, Gray said: “One mistake becomes two mistakes, we lose a goal again and from that point I thought Celtic were completely dominating again. We slipped back into that same mode again and right now it's just not acceptable for us.

“We need to coach the players and make sure we show them. One thing we can't continue to do is keep making them (mistakes). I've already touched on pre-game as well, there is going to be more competition for places now. The squad is going to get stronger as the days and weeks go on.

“Everyone who is playing at the moment, has the level been good enough? No. We're not at the level right now.

“So I can't keep picking the same players that keep making mistakes all the time. At the same time, we can't continue to do the things we're doing.

“We know that; we know it has been a tough start, but we keep making it tougher for ourselves for these reasons. By making mistakes, by not doing the things we're asking to do.”

Commenting on the back pass by Ekpiteta and the reaction of goalkeeper Josef Bursik that ultimately left Hibs with a mountain to climb, Gray said: “I think it's the decision making at the time. It's something we do work on all the time.

“I think if you actually look at a couple of situations just before that, we’ve put a couple of balls into the channel to go short and then go longer, which we got a little bit of success from. So it's the decision making at the time.

“There's nothing wrong with Celtic going to press aggressively, they always do. They're very good at it. But you need to be brave enough to play under that pressure. If you can break that pressure and get an opportunity off the other side of that …

“It's just a poor back pass at the wrong time. It's in the wrong position, it's the wrong side of him. And then the mistake after that is we don't do enough to then stop the goal. So that's the frustrating part, that it is so avoidable.

“There will be players who are suffering more than others at the moment. Not everybody responds in the same way. Some players will need a cuddle.

“Some players will need to be told straight. And at the same time, one thing we're always doing is we're trying to do it as constructively as possible. Because we want to keep everyone together as much as we can and try and get back to where I believe we can be.”

Out of the cup and without a point in the Scottish Premiership, Hibs welcome Dundee to Easter Road next weekend – and then face a trip to Kilmarnock before the international break, Gray admitting: “Moving forward, we've got two massive games now before the international break. We need to start putting points on the board as quickly as possible.”