Hibs boss Paul Heckingbottom demands his players do the basic things right

Paul Heckingbottom has called on his players to get the basics right, describing the 6-1 mauling by Rangers as “a wake-up call”.

Paul Heckingbottom at Ibrox

While adamant Sean Mackie’s 54th-minute red card had changed a game in which Daryl Horgan had pulled a goal back for Hibs after Jermain Defoe’s early double strike, Heckingbottom admitted that much of the damage done was self inflicted.

The head coach said: “They moved the ball quicker than us, they pressed it better than us, these are things we can do. When we started being brave, taking the ball and pressing a bit higher up the game changed.

“In the last ten minutes of the first half and the first ten or 15 of the second it was an even game and we were looking at making changes to give us the best chance to get that equalising goal. Then the sending off means those thoughts go out the window.”

Trying for an equaliser in those circumstances was always going to be difficult, but Heckingbottom bemoaned the manner in which his side conceded four more goals in the last 16 minutes.

He said: “That’s what happens when you do not do the basic things right. It’s an opportunity to stress that.”