Exclusive:Hibs boss reveals dressing room reaction to red card pair with 'go under' warning over Hearts howlers
Goalkeeper Sallinger and wingback Passlack cost their team dear with moments of madness
Hibs boss David Gray insists there would have been no point in him tearing strips off red card blunder boys Felix Passlack and Raphael Sallinger after their derby disasters, because he’s got to make sure the pair don’t “go under” after committing such costly errors in Sunday’s shattering defeat to Hearts. And Gray believes decision making, not discipline, is at the root of his team’s recent inability to keep 11 players on the park.
The Easter Road gaffer gave his players yesterday off to recover from the exertions of a game that saw Hibs put through the mill, physically and emotionally, as they were reduced to nine men. Austrian goalkeeper Sallinger was sent off for handling the ball outside of his penalty box after just 13 minutes, while German wingback Passlack picked up a second yellow card for an ugly looking challenge on Beni Baningime early in the second half.
Martin Boyle put Hibs ahead after seven minutes
Having gone ahead through departing Hibs great Martin Boyle’s spectacular opener after just seven minutes, the home side battled against the odds before eventually succumbing to an agonising loss, with Lawrence Shankland’s equaliser 25 minutes from time setting up a long siege on the hosts’ goal – one eventually broken by Blair Spittal’s deflected strike with just four minutes remaining. Victory for Hearts took them three points clear of Celtic in the race to become the first non-Old Firm side to win the Scottish title since Aberdeen in 1985.
Aware that the mood among Hibs fans is bleak, and conscious of the fact that both Sallinger and Passlack would be beating themselves up, Gray revealed that he’d made a decision not to go steaming into the guilty men in the aftermath of a defeat that leaves his team struggling to catch Motherwell in the race for guaranteed European football.
“Yeah, I think especially so close to the game, there's nothing I can say immediately after the game, because of what's at stake because of the feeling,” said Gray. “There’s nothing that is going to make anybody feel any better or be constructive in any way.
“I think, clearly, it's not a time for screaming and shouting. It's evident where we've let ourselves down with decision-making.
“My job will be to make sure that they don't go under from that and bounce back. Because they're still human beings.
“You still need to make sure that you do give the confidence back to players. And it’s about making sure that everybody sticks together, because the most important thing is the group, and the group has to stick together.
“And I will make sure it does. Myself and my staff will make sure we do that.”
Do Hibs have a discipline a problem?
Three Hibs players have been sent off in their last two games, with Grant Hanley’s early red card at Aberdeen – his second of the season – contributing to a damaging 2-0 loss that put an end to a six-game unbeaten run. Boyle, whose decade-long association with Hibs is about to come to an end, branded the recent record “unacceptable” as he admitted that players will have to address their disciplinary failings.
Gray takes a more nuanced view, explaining: “There's got to be lessons in defeat all the time. But I think at the same time we also need to appreciate that you absolutely need to keep 11 players on the pitch, if you want to win games of football.
“Especially at this level, against that level of opposition, and the teams we're going to face in the remainder of the season. And I do honestly believe we've beat ourselves in the last two weeks because of that.
“Now, it's not through a lack of discipline. We've not got a discipline problem in the football club or the players going into the game with a lack of discipline.
“It's just a decision-making in that moment. It cost us last week and cost us again - and I think we'll have to look at that.
“But ultimately, the result, because of who we're playing against, because of results elsewhere, makes it even tougher and it makes it harder for the players. We work on that when we’re back on Tuesday.”
Gray was limited in his options when Hibs went down to nine men, with the head coach admitting that it’s not a regular training-ground scenario explored in preparation for the unexpected, although he stressed: “You probably do work with 11 against nine at times, when you’re defending the box, and players work against overloads all the time. Which is probably what you've seen for a large period of that second half.
“Nine men gave us absolutely everything, defended their box incredibly well. You rely on a little bit of luck, you rely on the opposition, they'll be making their own decisions at times, shooting from distances, which is what I thought we restricted Hearts to. You need your goalkeeper to make big saves at big times and he did.
“Unfortunately we've been undone by ... I could pick the bones of it and look at every goal as avoidable. Could we do more in these situations? 100 per cent.
“But I’m not going to sit and batter the nine players who remained on the pitch. Because it's extremely difficult to win with 11, never mind nine.
“It's my job in the staff’s jobs to make sure we do pick them up. Because we've still got four massive games to go, and we will be pushing right to the very end to make sure we do everything we can to try and catch Motherwell.
“Now, it might be out of our control now because of the games that are remaining. But until it's mathematically impossible, we'll be doing everything we can.”