Hibs crash to crushing loss - report and ratings as Falkirk league defeat completes week of woe for David Gray

Hibs saw this season of contrast slip from calamity to the brink of crisis as their week of woe ended with David Gray’s men suffering a second concussive loss in brutal circumstances, following up their Scottish Cup exit with a crushing 4-1 league defeat away to Falkirk. A Barney Stewart hat-trick the damage for the Bairns, who cruised into a 2-0 half-time lead off the back of a completely dominant performance.

Although Rocky Bushiri dragged the visitors back into the contest as he bundled the ball home from a Jordan Obita corner just before the hour mark, Stewart’s third with less than 10 minutes remaining killed the game. And substitute Louie Marsh gave John McGlynn’s Bairns the victory they fully deserved with a fourth two minutes from time.

Hibs began the day aiming to at least maintain pace with fourth-placed Motherwell. But ended the afternoon having been dragged back to within two points of the sixth-placed Bairns – and looking like anything but contenders for the European places.

With injuries and illnesses restricting the visitors to just eight subs on the bench, under-19s captain Joe McGrath stepping into help avoid an even more threadbare look to the replacement corps, Hibs needed their starting XI - bolstered, at least in theory, by the return of Martin Boyle and Dan Barlaser – to step up. Yeah. About that.

Completely unable to generate so much as a toehold in the opening exchanges, they deservedly fell behind after just 17 minutes, Falkirk storming through the middle of the park and feeding the ball wide for Calvin Miller to stand up his man and send in a low cross. Stewart had a tap-in from about a yard.

Hibs did have a chance to equalise with around half an hour gone, Grant Hanley seeing a header from a Jordan Obita free-kick turned away brilliantly by Scott Bain. But that was as good as it got for Gray’s men in a grim first half.

They duly conceded a second goal just before the break to compound the misery of the 815 travelling fans. The fact that there were distinct similarities between both of Falkirk’s goal, Stewart again finishing from a Miller cross after a nice bit of link-up play, would have done little to impress the away support.

Gray made a drastic switch at half-time, bringing on Elie Youan for Jack Iredale and switching to a 4-2-3-1 formation that matched up man for man against the home side. And the visitors did claim a goal back with 59 minutes on the clock, Bushiri making enough contact with Jordan Obita’s excellent in-swinging corner to beat Bain from close range.

But Raphael Sallinger had to make two excellent stops from Miller just to keep Hibs in the game. There was an inevitability about Falkirk re-establishing their dominance.

The third goal being pretty much a carbon copy of the first two was enough for many Hibs fans, who started flooding for the exits. And there weren’t many left after Marsh made it 4-1 in the last knockings of a miserable day out for the travelling punters.