How Hibs can ensure Ross County slip-up is a mere footnote come May

Given the way 2020 has panned out, there was almost an inevitability about Hibs' final game of the year.

There was an inevitability about former Hibee Oli Shaw's involvement in Ross County's 2-0 win

The game ticked all the boxes: the basement club searching for a first league win since September and a first goal in over a month; the hosts with the chance to go third after Aberdeen's game with Livingston was postponed and make it back-to-back home wins for the first time since 2018, and a former Hibs player coming back to haunt his old club.

“We’ve seen this film before...”

Hollywood producers would have rejected the script for being too predictable, despite their predilection for remaking films we’ve all seen before. Hibs ended 2019 with a dismal 2-0 defeat against a team just days after a performance for which they won plaudits, and the Easter Road side wrapped up 2020 in exactly the same fashion.

While the performance was flat throughout the team the most deflating aspect of the defeat was the one-dimensional approach; doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. What is it they say about the definition of madness?

I lost count of the number of times Hibs funnelled the ball out to Martin Boyle on the wing – a sensible approach given how vulnerable Ross County have been down their left side this season – but too often the final ball was lacking. When it wasn’t, the man in the box found visiting ‘keeper Ross Laidlaw, the advertising hoardings, or the stand behind the goal, but not the net.

Even in the last ten minutes Hibs were still going down this path in search of a goal, much to the delight of veteran full-back Carl Tremarco, who got the better of Boyle on more than one occasion last night.

No Murphy, no party

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 30: Ross County Manager John Hughes during a Scottish Premiership match between Hibernian and Ross County at Easter Road, on December 30, 2020, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

The problem for Hibs is that injuries have robbed them of several creative players. Neither Kyle Magennis nor Drey Wright have been able to adequately replace Jamie Murphy on the left wing, while the collective absence of Scott Allan and Stevie Mallan left Jack Ross with precious little in the way of players who could come on and make an impact in the middle of the park.

Stephen McGinn certainly has his merits but he wouldn't be the first choice to come on and try and spark a flagging team into life.

Wright’s performances since arriving from St Johnstone in the summer have, by the player's admission, not been his best. Hibs were on top against County with a five-man midfield with Wright in the centre, where he has been most effective this season, and yet he was shifted out wide when Ross altered his tactics early in the first half.

It was no coincidence, much less a surprise that County’s midfield trio of Stephen Kelly, Jordan Tillman and Iain Vigurs began to get a grip of the game thereafter and Wright was hooked early in the second half.

Hibs' Drey Wright and Ros County's Stephen Kelly battle for possession

Lack of options

Despite that the Hibs team that lined up against Ross County should, on paper, have had enough about it to take care of Ross County. If Hibs have designs on third place and possibly winning the Betfred Cup, they simply must find ways of winning these games.

Hibs have now failed to score against County in 180 minutes of football. Up front there are simply no options if Christian Doidge or Kevin Nisbet are having an off-day, with Jamie Gullan far better suited to a wide role.

January arrivals

Jamie Murphy takes part in training ahead of Hibs' clash with Ross County

While Ross will be eager not to make wholesale changes to his squad in January – and that is a sensible approach – it is now becoming abundantly clear that there are one or two pieces of the Hibs jigsaw missing. With every player fit and available this is a strong Hibs team but even then there is a nagging feeling that the squad is still in need of players really capable of changing a match.

The smart money would be on a striker and winger being top of the list and while January can be a hard time to bring in reinforcements Hibs have managed it before and should be able to do so again.

Players with the impact of Allan, or Florian Kamberi and Jamie Maclaren, would go a long way to nudging this Hibs team towards a successful season. Unless things change there is a very real risk of the club slipping out of the race for third and falling short in their bid to win a trophy.

As things stand, Hibs look nailed on for fourth place barring a spectacular collapse but given their early-season promise, it would feel like a chance missed if they failed to build on it, especially with teams like Kilmarnock and Motherwell struggling to challenge the top four.

Fine margins

If Hibs hadn’t conceded late goals to Celtic and Dundee United, and if they had taken their chances against the Staggies in October they could be nine points better off and ending the calendar year three points clear in second.

When Jack Ross talks about fine margins he is derided by a section of the club's support but he’s right. There is an argument that Hibs didn’t deserve to win the games at Tannadice and McDiarmid Park early in the campaign and that these things even out over the course of the season but if Joe Newell hadn’t deflected the ball into Luke Bolton’s path for Dundee United's late equaliser, or Kyle Magennis hadn't hit the woodwork in Dingwall, or Diego Laxalt had skied his effort, things might look very different for Hibs.

The key thing for Ross and his players is seizing control of these fine margins and making them work in Hibs' favour. If they can do that, the Ross County game will be merely a footnote at the end of a successful season come May.