Hibs skipper Boyle in brutal assessment on Euro exit - striker insists 'we have to be better' despite pride
David Gray says ‘love’ for football is why the lows hurt so badly
Hibs skipper Martin Boyle has delivered a brutally honest assessment of his team’s UEFA Conference League exit. And the club’s new record European goal scorer admits that, while the Easter Road side “deserved” to get past Legia Warsaw in last night’s dramatic play-off, they paid the price for shrinking from the brink of glory.
A 3-3 draw in Warsaw, after losing an injury-time goal and then an extra time sickener, saw Hibs go out 5-4 on aggregate. Boyle, who scored as Hibs banged in three goals in 11 second-half minutes to put themselves on the path to qualifying for European group/league stage football for the first time in club history, was still hurting when he spoke after the game.
“It’s tough, it obviously hurts, being close to making history,” said the Socceroos striker, who admitted: “But in important moments in games where we have had to defend our box, we haven’t done it and we have been punished by individual quality.
“The guy has taken a good touch in the box and fired it home (for the winner). We have to be better in those situations, in the end it has cost us.
“But we can be proud of what we have achieved. The first half wasn’t great. But in the second half we were brilliant. We had nothing to lose, came out fighting and got the goals.
“We probably deserved to go through but we haven’t. The score line doesn’t lie.
“We had nothing to lose, we had to win the game. The goal from Rocky gave us the momentum.
Boyle: ‘We went into our shell’
“But when we got the goals we went into our shell. Tiredness, fatigue, whatever, we lacked composure. We’ve paid the price - but we can be proud of what we have achieved this campaign.”
Gray is urging his players to build on their European experience as they return to domestic matters with Sunday’s visit of St Mirren to Easter Road, the manager saying: "Yeah, that is the challenge, I think we need to look at how close we've come tonight, how well we've performed against top teams. "That's another thing I've just reminded the players, the level of opposition we're playing against and the fine margins within it.
“We've been outstanding in Europe. I think we need to make sure we take that into the domestic season and also remember that we've shown that we belong at this level when we've competed against the level of teams we have.
"We've all had a taste of it now, the players are hungry to try to do this again, and the only way we get nights like tonight is by being successful domestically and that is the challenge to players – can we go and replicate that?”
Asked whether he loved or hated football on a night like last night, Gray said: “I think everybody loves the game; that's why you get so high, and so low. I'm sure for a neutral it was another fantastic night, but there's not much I can say to the players that will make them feel any better.
“They're on the floor at the minute but the job now for myself, the staff and everybody is to make sure we get round the players and pick them up as quickly as we can. Because there is no time to feel sorry for yourself.
"If we want nights like tonight, the domestic stuff is where we need to be at our very best - and we've got a real tough game at home at the weekend. The level of performance that we've produced is the standard that we now need to set and if we can do that, I'm sure we'll have a successful domestic season.”