Jack Ross: Hibs' 'terrific' performance against Aberdeen will not be a one-off

Head coach confident display can be replicated

Jack Ross believes Hibs’ “terrific” performance against Aberdeen won’t be a one-off, claiming his side have the ability to produce such a display in any match.

The Easter Road head coach was delighted with the 3-0 demolition of the Dons, but he insisted it was not because of his coaching and down to the fact he has good players.

A double from Martin Boyle and a Flo Kamberi goal gave Ross his third win in five matches since succeeding Paul Heckingbottom, the victory coming hard on the heels of disappointing results against Kilmarnock and Ross County, with just one point taken from those two games.

Jack Ross. Pic: SNS

Ross, however, believes his players hadn’t got what they deserved on those occasions, saying: “When they play well, like they have done, and not got the rewards it’s frustrating for them – not for me. But there was a satisfaction because they were terrific.”

And, revealing he didn’t fully appreciate the quality of each of the three goals until he viewed them for a second time, Ross is intent on getting the best from his side as he learns more about each individual having only been in the job for a few weeks.

He said: “The quality the players show going forward is terrific. That’s not good coaching from, that’s good players. It’s just encouraging them to play in that manner.

“We want to keep replicating that and we will – because we have the ability in the squad to do that.”

Playmaker Scott Allan’s precision pass for the fleet-footed Boyle to open the scoring caught the eye and that is something Ross hopes to see many more times, saying: “He has the vision and ability that a lot of players do not possess.

“It’s a matter of making sure we get him in the right areas of the pitch to do that.”

A first clean sheet since the opening day of the season was equally pleasing for Ross, who told Hibs TV: “I have felt in the main we have been defending okay. We have not been played through a lot by teams.

“We have been frustrated at the manner of some of the goals we have given away and maybe the softness of them. But the buy-in from the players has been good and the work we have done on the training pitch has been limited at times but the work we have done with them from an analysis perspective, their buy-in has been very good and their willingness to want to get better has been good.

“So I am pleased for them, not just the defensive unit, the whole team to get that reward of a clean sheet. We know if we get more of them we’ll win games because I believe we will always create and score.”