Hibs players care just as much as fans, insists Nicky Cadden

This time though, it was a different kind of pain.

Nicky Cadden, moments after scoring an injury-time penalty, saw his last-gasp equaliser ruled out by VAR and with it, the chance of an unlikely point for the struggling Hibees. Fellow substitute Dwight Gayle, who wasn't deemed fit enough to start amid head coach David Gray's striker issues with Mykola Kukharevych suspended, was standing in an offside position as the ball deflected off him and the celebrations of the few fans left in Easter Road were cut abruptly short.

There was a sense of inevitability about it all. Hibs certainly haven't been getting the rub of the green lately but after a meek first-half performance against the Buddies in which Conor McMenamin scored twice without reply, it was difficult to make a case for them deserving anything from a match which, like every fixture for Hibs, was deemed a must-win. 

Previous Hibs teams going in at the break 2-0 down might have come flying out of the traps in the second period, backed by a raucous crowd who believed there was a chance of a comeback. But this Hibs team had shown little in the first half, and even with a triple change at the interval, including Cadden, fared little better in the second. Their late rally was simply too little, too late.

Speaking afterwards, a dejected Cadden said: “It isn’t excusable for the first 90 minutes. We need to give the gaffer better performances, basically.

“We'll strip today back during the week and take it from there. The performances haven't been good enough, conceding silly goals, and it’s obviously very raw after games. You always look at it in a better light the next day when you look at your performance, or look at the team's performance, so it's hard to comment just now, but we need to start winning games quickly. 

Hibs are winless since September, a record any head coach would understandably be concerned by. David Gray’s players have always been vocal in their support for him though and perhaps Saturday’s 90th-minute rally was further evidence of that.

The 28-year-old said: “We know he doesn't deserve this; since I've come to the club, he's been brilliant with me. He's been brilliant with all the boys.

“We've got a lot of experienced players in there. I feel as if I'm one of the experienced guys as well. Obviously, I've been around football a long time and I know when it's not good enough and I know when performances have been good or whatever. But as I said, that first half and then the second half we huffed and puffed a wee bit, but it's just not good enough for this size of club to be where we are now.”

Between the chorus of boos ringing around the stands, Élie Youan having to be pulled away from a confrontation with fans, the verbal abuse hurled towards the directors' box at full-time, and reports of other flashpoints between players and fans, the stadium isn’t a pleasant place to be at the moment.

But Cadden insists that the players share the supporters' frustrations and care just as much. 

“We're not happy in there. It's not like we're all bouncing about happy and we're all happy about how the first 12 games have gone. We know it needs to be better and ultimately the gaffer does not deserve this," he admitted. 

“But that's the one that really annoys me. You can say players don't take it to heart because we play football or we're in a good job or we're well paid. But at the end of the day… if I win on Saturday, I'm happy. If I lose, I'm unhappy for the next couple of days. My missus gets the brunt of it and it's probably harder for her than me because I'm obviously not very nice to be around because I just shut myself off. I look deep into things and that's me as a person. I'm sure everybody in there is the same. We're not happy with the performances at the moment.”

Despite the toxic atmosphere after the match, Cadden joined his team-mates in walking around the pitch to show his appreciation to the by-then largely empty stands.

“I feel like I always applaud the fans no matter the result because at the end of the day, they're spending their money to come and watch us play football, he explained.

"I'm sure fans won't be happy, but I know things are expensive these days as well. So, it's like they're spending their money to come and see us and we're not performing, we're not giving it back to them and that's absolutely not good enough for this football club.”

Regardless of the outcome of the game, the international break means a temporary pause for domestic football. Hibs' next game is a trip to Dens Park to face Dundee on November 23 - meaning a longer period of time to mull over a painful defeat and remain stuck at the bottom of the division. 

“Obviously, we've got a break now, which could be a good thing”, Cadden added. 

“We can reset and try to right the wrongs but also, it's a long time to the next game and personally, I don't like that.”