PAUL HECKINGBOTTOM was left to rue Hibernian’s defensive mistakes as they slumped to a comprehensive 6-1 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox.
Jermain Defoe netted twice in the opening stages to put Steven Gerrard’s side well in control but Hibs had hope at the break after Scott Allan split the Gers defence with a terrific pass and Daryl Horgan finished to make it 2-1 and reduce their arrears.
A red card for Sean Mackie shortly after the interval put the visitors on the back foot and Rangers would go on to run out comfortable winners.
READ MORE: Jermain Defoe confident Rangers can maintain momentum after 6-1 win over Hibernian
Defoe completed his hat-trick before Alfredo Morelos netted twice and Sheyi Ojo rounded off the scoring in the final minutes as Hibs were left to lick their wounds.
Heckingbottom said: "Yeah and it got tougher as the minutes went on.
"You can break it into three parts for me. The first 35 minutes we were second best so that's what set the tone for the game.
"We got back into it with our goal and that allowed us to make some passes and make some changes at half-time.
"We were comfortable then and thinking about different things.
"But then the sending off totally changes the game.
"That's not to say we deserved anything out of the game, do you get what I mean?
READ MORE: Aberdeen vs HNK Rijeka: Striker Sam Cosgrove 'touch and go' to be fit for crunch Europa League clash
"But the game was in three bits. We started on the back foot where we were poor and Rangers were good which made it difficult for us.
"We got through that. A good bit of quality - our first bit of quality - created the goal and gave us a chance.
"I was pleased with the start of the second half but the sending off makes it tough.
"We made bad decisions. It's all a different area of the game having 10 men but we made bad decisions and didn't retain the ball well enough and that's why we got punished."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel