Top line summary

  • Frustrated to go two goals down but 'proud' of fightback
  • Felt Hibs deserved to win in the end, annoyed by Kilmarnock 'time wasting'
  • Impressed by impact from 'quality players' Myziane and Emiliano

Overall assessment

“I thought for 20 minutes we were in total control of the game. That’s been the case a lot of times this season. We had a lot of possession and got caught with a sucker punch, really. I thought there was only one team in the game, but that is what they are going to do here. Set-pieces, long throws and that’s where they are really strong. They have a lot of height, got players who can deliver balls at speed and attack them really well. I thought up until that point, we probably could have been in the lead and that sucked the wind of us as confidence is a little fragile. I wouldn’t say the performances, but the results the last couple of weeks have been difficult, but for me it was great to see the second-half performance. I said to the boys at half-time that what we can’t do is stop playing and get sucked into a battle as that’s what they wanted. There was a lot of time-wasting, to be honest. The second goal came totally against the run of play again. A long ball to the back post. We work on that in the week and it is disappointing to concede that goal. From that point, you’ve got two things to do. You either crumble or you stand big and I thought there were some really big performances in that second half.

On Myziane impact and Doidge chance

“I thought our first goal really gave us belief and the subs that came on, Myziane when he came on, the guy is a top quality player. He needs to get fit. He’s not played since November, but I thought he caused all sorts of problems and deserved his goal. It’s really disappointing not to get out with three points. Doidge’s open goal at the end, that’s his bread and butter. It’s a free header, it looks like it is going in and it drops wide. Other than that, five minutes of injury time at the end, I thought there was a lot of time-wasting in the game and I asked the referee that at the end.  He gave me his answer and that’s what the officials decided, but there was a lot of time-wasting, a red card, a lot of substitutions, taking a minute to take a corner or a throw-in towards the end. And I thought if there had been a little more added time at the end, I thought we had the momentum to go on and win the game.” 

On Emiliano and players returning

"Considering that, we'll take the point. This is a difficult place to come and we'll take that confidence. It's more minutes in the legs for Marcondes, who I thought was outstanding again. He's not played for a while and I knew bringing him in this window, it would take a few weeks to get him up to speed. It's been hard to have training sessions, we've got games back to back. We've got a really light squad so what has been important is to get them introduced to how we play.

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"That's the main reason why they came to the club. I've got full belief in where we can get to this season. That's a big result and we go into the St Mirren game with more minutes in the legs, more boys coming back soon from injury and international duty. I told the boys today, 'if you perform then it doesn't matter who is coming back, you'll stay in the team', and that's what we really needed, competition for places. That's nobody's fault, the situation we've been in, but we'll take a lot of confidence from that today."

On the fans and new signings' contribution

. I thought the fans were amazing. It's probably been a difficult period for them as well, but I want to win every game, I want the performances to bring the results, but that doesn't always happen. I've got full belief in what I'm doing and where the club going to get to. It's a process now and a bit of a transition. The squad's getting revamped, there's players going out on loan, new players coming in. And I always said the players coming in need to be better quality than what we've got. They have to make an impact on the team and I thought today you saw that with the new signings coming in. I'm really proud of the boys coming back. I felt we should have won the game. We were better team. We know that they are dangerous from the set-pieces and crosses but I felt for the majority of the time, we dealt with it well. We move forward.

On learning about his players

"I've learned something all season. I came in with a remit to give young players opportunities. I think that's five academy players that have made their debuts now. The likes of Jair coming back - and we needed him. The team showed a real desire. The Hearts game, we came back from 2-0 down for the first time in four years, so that's the second time in four years. That gives me a lot of belief. And if we win the game with Doidge's header, that's the first time in seven years from coming 2-0 down to win the game. But we have to stop conceded and chasing the game."