'Unacceptable softness' leaves Hibs boss fuming over catastrophic loss in Scottish Premiership opener

SNS Group

Hibs boss David Gray admitted to worrying about a “softness” at the heart of his team after they were humiliated by St Mirren on the opening weekend of Scottish Premiership action. And he criticised his team for the nature of the goals conceded in the “unacceptable” 3-0 defeat in Paisley.

Gray, speaking after his league debut as gaffer, said: “As soon as you see the result, the performance becomes irrelevant. Because to lose the game 3-0 is unacceptable for us. That’s on everything.

“If I try to strip it back and look at the first half performance, we created enough chances to be in front in the game, so there are a lot of positives to take from that. The fact that we’re creating the chances is great – and we limited them to very little.

“To then concede straight after half-time, that is very avoidable, the goal we lose.

“I thought there was a softness to the goals we lost. And not just one thing but three or four things in the moves to the goals we lose.

“The second goal is just a genuine mistake, which happen in games. Then the reaction from that, to go and lose the third goal in the manner we did, it was so avoidable from the top end of the pitch – there were three or four things we could have done to affect that better.

“So there are definite areas where we can’t accept that. Especially the third goal, we shouldn’t lose that – because then the game is gone.”

WATCH THE LATEST FITBAW TALK HERE

Asked if he was concerned about the nature of the goals, Gray admitted: “Of course it’s a concern. It’s a concern when you lose goals. It’s not something I’ve seen in the games we’ve played so far.

“Take the second goal out of it, because that’s a misplaced pass. But look at the other goals.

“One comes straight after half-time. You look at it and there are three or four mistakes leading to that goal.

“I tell the players all the time not to let one mistake become two mistakes. Because three mistakes usually results in a goal. That was evident today, as you see.

“We huffed and puffed at times, had a few half chances. But the damage had been done at that point.

“At 1-0, the chances we created, we had to take. We had a massive chance to make it 1-1. You need to take that chance, which would have given us an opportunity to kick on again.

“Overall, they were more clinical in their box. They defended their own box better than we did. That was why it was 3-0.”

Hibs had new signing Mykola Kuharevich available today, with the on-loan Swansea striker thrown into the fray midway through the second half. Gray, asked whether the result shows the need for more recruitment, insisted: “I think there's more work to be done all the time. Regardless of players coming, regardless of any of that, the performance that we had - especially in the first half - showed that what was in the squad is good enough.

GET THE LATEST HIBS NEWS DIRECTLY TO YOUR EMAIL INBOX DAILY WITH OUR FREE NEWSLETTER SERVICE

“I think we need to be better in both boxes. I'd be much more concerned if we weren't creating any chances, we just need to be more clinical when they do come, because at this level we're not going to get five, six, seven chances to convert. That was evident today.”

Hibs now face Celtic in a home-and-away league and cup doubleheader, meaning Gray must either inspire or cajole his players into a reaction, the former Scottish Cup-winning captain saying: “I think it's pretty clear from the feeling in the dressing room after the match that they know that it wasn't good enough. Moving forward, the standards that we set in pre-season, the standards that we talk about and the expectations of this football club, we fell below in the second half. It's something we need to rectify very quickly because it doesn't get any easier in the coming weeks, that's for sure.”