'I'm proud of the players, they gave me everything' - Shaun Maloney hails gritty Hibs display against Celtic

Hibs boss Shaun Maloney praised his side after they dug deep to earn a point against Celtic at Easter Road on Sunday.

A strong defensive performance frustrated the visitors and restored the hosts to fourth in the Scottish Premiership table on goal difference.

Speaking afterwards Maloney couldn’t speak highly enough of his players.

"The performance was very good. We definitely earned that point with a lot of hard work. The players gave me everything. I'm really proud of them.

Shaun Maloney hailed his side's gritty performance against Celtic

“The whole team defended excellently. The way Celtic play is quite unique with what they do with their full-backs and we had to defend that and the attacking players had to defend more than I'd like.

"As energy levels dropped, we got deeper but they showed amazing heart.

"Every successful team has to have a bit of grit. The best teams in our league have a side to them like that. We have to show that every game. We showed it against Hearts, we showed it against Celtic, we showed it against Ross County at times.

"But we have to show it in every game. If we are going to succeed, then we have to show that level of desire not to get beat in every game, whether it’s Celtic, Hearts or any other team in this league.

“It’s that desire to not get beat that I absolutely loved today. It showed a completely different side to what we always speak about, things I want to bring to this club.

Maloney admitted that injuries limited his side’s attacking output, adding: “As the game wore on I would love to have had a go.

“But we have so many injuries at the moment that some of our attacking players had to go to the death today. They really had to go to the last minute.

“When energy levels are that low you drop deeper, you stop pressing as high. I would love us to have pressed as high for the whole 90.

“But they gave me everything and at that point you start to have a counter-attacking threat, which we did at times.

“We had to defend for large periods of the second half which brings a different kind of pride I have in them. I can’t ask for any more than what I got today.’

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