Every word from Joe Newell Hibs Q&A after Aberdeen sickener

Was that a real sickener?

“Yeah, we’re disappointed, obviously. I thought we were the better side - but things just went against us. I’ve not seen anything back, before you ask me about the goal or the penalty. Obviously, it must be offside if he’s given it.

Without having seen it, how heartbreaking is it when you've already celebrated the goal?

“As a player, it’s heartbreaking when that kind of VAR call goes against you. I think the longer it went on, I started to think: ‘Right, this must be close …’ But I’ve not watched it back, not watched the penalty claim. I thought we were really good. The first half was a bit cagey from both sides, just kind of sussing each other out. We then started the second half really well. I thought we were in control, had a few chances and obviously had the goal disallowed. Then they get a man sent off and, I dunno, my initial feeling is that it shouldn’t – but it hindered us a bit. They were already getting back in their shape anyway, soaking up pressure, with 11 men. So with 10 men it’s obviously really hard to break them down. But we need to look at that because it’s happened before, under previous managers, a few times. We’ve gone a man up and it hasn’t worked out for us. Again, without looking back at the goal, I claimed for a foul initially. I don’t know. If it’s not a foul, then it’s naïve from us to concede a counterattack goal with a man up.

Did the ref say he checked for a foul?

“Yeah, I was asking him and he said there was no foul.

You use the word naïve – need to be more street smart in these situations?

“I think so, yeah, especially in such a high stakes game, at nil-nil and with so much on the line. You can call it being street smart, whatever. But it’s something we need to look at as a team.

In terms of St Mirren, you have to bounce back quickly, don't you?

“Yeah. It’s done now. I haven't thought about it too much yet.

Does this group have the character to bounce back?

“Of course we’ve got the character to bounce back. You’ve got no choice, anyway. That’s football. It’ll be horrible tonight, probably horrible tomorrow, then we’ll come in Monday and have a look at the game, a debrief – and then it’s done, over. The full focus is now on two massive comes coming up before the break, St Mirren and Kilmarnock. We know we need to get as many points as possible, because the full focus goes back on the league now.

In terms of bouncing back, there's a physical recovery, but that tonight must be emotionally draining, as well?

“Definitely. It hurts massively and the dressing room is devastated, as you can imagine. It hurts more because of the way the game went, we should have come out on top. It’ll take a day or two. The game is Wednesday night, so there’ll be no excuses physically or mentally, no chance. We’ll be right and fully prepared for St Mirren, 100 per cent.

People say players can ‘use the hurt’, but is there really anything in that?

“Yeah, maybe. You can draw on it when you look at the game and how you can improve. The coaching staff and the manager, analysis-wise are amazing, probably the best I’ve seen in terms of debriefs and preparation for games, the way they see it panning out. In terms of learning from it – what we can do better physically and tactically – we’ll be spot on with that. Emotionally, I think everyone has to remember the next time we’re here, how much it does hurt and use that as motivation.

You largely got it spot on, tactically, that must be the really annoying thing...

“Absolutely no disrespect to Aberdeen – they’ve gone a man down and dug out a 1-0 win, fair play to them – but I thought we were the better side throughout. There’s no qualms or complaint tactically. I thought the delivery of the gameplan went well, we were by far the better side, which is why it maybe hurts a bit more.

It's been a week of near misses, is there a belief you can get on the right side of these fine margins?

“Definitely. No matter what I say now, no one’s going to care, do you know what I mean? I can say about a process, a long-term plan or vision, but no one cares about that at the minute. The fans don’t want to hear it, and I completely get it. Everyone will hurt. But it’s been a tough week, conceding two goals to chuck away two points and now feeling like we should be in a final. It’s tough, but what can do you except dust yourself down and go again? There’s no other choice but to get on with it, embrace it and try to learn from it to motivate you.

Is it a good thing to have another game so soon?

“Yeah, it’s good that it’s Wednesday rather than Tuesday, because that would’ve been a quick turnaround, we still would’ve been hurting. But there’s no excuses on Wednesday, it’s done. It’ll be put to bed and we’ll be fully prepared. There will not be one excuse if we don’t get a result on Wednesday."