Paul Hanlon: Hibs deserve to be in the bottom six

Paul Hanlon insists Hibs deserve to be in the bottom half of the Scottish Premiership after repeated failures to secure a top-six berth earlier in the season.

Needing a win to be sure of a place in the upper half of the top flight, the visitors got off to a dream start against rivals Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday, scoring after five minutes, but came out on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline with the loss and other results consigning Hibs to a seventh-place finish ahead of the split.

Hanlon said following the game: “It’s terrible. It’s not where we should be.

“We had numerous chances to put ourselves in a far more comfortable position. It doesn’t just come down to one match.

Paul Hanlon was seething after Saturday's defeat

"We’ve had loads of results where we should have picked up more points and haven’t. It’s on us. It’s probably what we deserve.”

Hibs played well for the opening half-hour at Tynecastle before seemingly capitulating, and Hanlon agreed that the display mirrored the season.

“We’ve had difficulty in putting full performances together. We’ve had spells where we’ve done well and spells where we haven’t and been punished."

Hibs face the same opponents in next Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final and Hanlon wants his team to feel the pain before another trip to Hampden.

“We need to suffer a bit,” he said. “I want the younger lads to feel how sore it is so we know how big next week is.

"If we are going to win that one we need to be a hell of a lot better.”

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