Jack Ross praises Hibs' response and admits he didn't know they could get Dundee again

Hibs manager Jack Ross hailed the character of his Hibs team after they scored three goals in the final 20 minutes to defeat Dundee 4-1 in the Betfred Cup.

Hibs boss Jack Ross was pleased with his team's performance.

The Easter Road outfit led early on thanks to a goal from Stevie Mallan after ten minutes, but Dundee levelled via Christie Elliott on 71 minutes in the final Group B match, and a 1-1 draw would have left Hibs facing an unseeded berth in the last-16 draw.

However, a Jordan McGhee own goal and strikes from substitutes Jamie Gullan and Melker Hallberg within a five-minute spell warded off any fears Hibs would crumble after the Dees’ goal as they finished Group B of the competition with a perfect record.

In an ironic twist, Hibs and Dundee will meet again in the next round of competition after they were paired together after the match.

"I rather naively didn't know that could be a possibility,” laughed Ross as he reacted to the draw. “We're at home, which is pleasing. We go into that game in a couple of weeks time having won in that manner, it obviously helps your belief.”

Ross was delighted with the way his players responded to Dundee’s pressure.

"We were decent before the equaliser,” he continued. “We created a decent amount of opportunities, but the danger is that if you don't capitalise on that, there's only one goal in it. Dundee had their best spell of the game in that ten/15 minute period that they managed to equalise in, so I think the changes brought a little bit of fresh energy for us and our response the last 20 minutes was excellent. I thought we were really good in that period.”

Ross also lauded Mallan’s opening goal, which was a long-range strike that he is famed for. The midfielder was given a rare starting berth, with Alex Gogic on international duty.

"Stevie's goal is something that I'm obviously very familiar with, because I've worked with him before and encourage him to do so,” added Ross. “And again, he was one of those that had an opportunity today and he did himself no harm.”

A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our sports coverage with a digital sports subscription.