Hibs: Jack Ross rues 'sore' derby defeat and responds to Marc McNulty incident

Jack Ross looks on as Hibs take on Hearts in the first Edinburgh derby of 2020

Hibs head coach Jack Ross has revealed he’ll be encouraging his players to “feel the soreness and rawness” of coming off second best in the Edinburgh derby.

Ross admitted his players had lost their discipline in terms of shape and allowed their thinking to become “foggy” as they went down 3-1 to Hearts, who climbed off the bottom of the Premiership table with only their second away league win of the season - the first having also come at Easter Road.

After a goalless first half, Hibs were left rattled after Sean Clare fired Hearts ahead from the penalty spot before Oliver Bozanic and Conor Washington gave Daniel Stendel’s side an unassailable lead, substitute Melker Hallberg’s late strike only a consolation for the home team.

Refuting the suggestion that this had been as poor a performance as he’d seen from his side, Ross said: “In the first half neither team had control of the game and the scoreline was a reflection of how the first half had gone.

“But post conceding the first goal we were poor, we lost a bit of discipline in terms of our shape and our decision-making became foggy in that period and ultimately that’s what cost us the match.”

Hearts 'not more up for it than Hibs'

And Ross also rejected the thought that Hearts had been “more up for it” than his players as they lost for only the second time since the winter break.

He said: “I think that’s disrespectful to a group of footballers, I do not think there’s any footballers who are never motivated for a game. But you temper that by looking at how many first, second and third balls you win and my gut feeling was we didn’t do that well enough. That’s something we need to be better at, not just in the derby but any game.”

Ross agreed Bozanic’s strike highlighted his point about a lack of clarity of thought and decision-making. He said: “It’s very easy to say it when you are standing on the sidelines, but when you are on the pitch and going behind in a derby and are desperate to get back in the game, we started chasing the game very early.

“We probably needed to take a deep breath because the second goal had a bearing on how the second half panned out.

“There’s a soreness and rawness in losing a derby fixture and I am not encouraging them not to feel it because it’s important to recognise how it is but also in the aftermath of that type of result you will probably be told you are really poor.

“But the truth is they are not and I will be reminding them of that. We have an opportunity on Saturday [away to Aberdeen] right away to put part of that right.”

McNulty incident

Ross also pointed out that his players will have another chance in a few weeks time when they face Hearts again in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup to make amends, but at the moment it would be a case of taking stock on what could be done better, adding: “When you have lost a game 3-1 generally you have not been good enough and that’s what we were tonight.”

On the subject of striker Marc McNulty appearing to stamp on Clare in a first half incident, Ross added: “I understand it was on the far side of the pitch, I was not aware of it at the time and I don’t have an opinion as I have not watched it yet.”