Hibs boss Jack Ross has a penalty poser to ponder

Scott Allan reacts after missing the penalty against Livingston

Hibs boss Jack Ross has admitted he has a spot of thinking to do after watching his side miss a second successive penalty as they were held to a frustrating draw by Livingston.

Scott Allan passed up the chance to put the Easter Road side into a first-half lead after Lions defender Aaron Taylor-Sinclair’s arm blocked a Martin Boyle cross, his effort from 12 yards saved by goalkeeper Robby McCrorie.

Although Christian Doidge’s 17th goal of the season did put Hibs ahead, Aaron Taylor-Sinclair made amends on six minutes later as he hauled Gary Holt’s side level, the draw preventing Hibs from leapfrogging their visitors and also closing in on Motherwell and Aberdeen.

It was Hibs’ second failure from the penalty spot in three games, striker Marc McNulty’s shot saved by Ross County goalkeeper Nathan Baxter although it wasn’t as costly as the latest miss as Ross’s players notched a 3-0 win.

However, Ross conceded he now has a bit of thinking to do, insisting that few would have a problem over McNulty or Allan being on penalty duty.

The head coach said: “I have always been quite relaxed about it, people have their thoughts on it, their thought processes of designated penalty takers and so on.

“But I always think you have to trust your players. Players need to know how they feel on the pitch at times and I think if you look at our two penalty misses recently and ask someone who knows a lot about Hibs – or even someone who does not know that much – who is taking them, McNulty and Allan, I’m sure most people, even the ones that do not know much about football, they say ‘that sounds alright’.

“They have both missed so we will reflect on it, have a wee chat during the week and see where that takes us going forward. Hopefully we score the next one because when you get that opportunity you think, by and large, you are going to go ahead in the game.”

Although he admitted to being frustrated at the outcome given his team had dominated most of the ball and territory, he insisted he was still “proud” of what his players have achieved in recent weeks, saying: “Our record post-break has been very good. We were not at our best but I’m still proud of what they have done over the last eight or nine games.

“Not so long ago we were talking about earning points to get us away from trouble, now it’s frustration about dropping points because you want to finish third, that’s the positive side.”