Edinburgh Derby – After Match Quotes

Despite Hibs increasing their Scottish Premiership losing streak to six matches gaffer Terry Butcher is convinced his players have the ability and strength of character to avoid the relegation play off spot.

Hibs found themselves two goals down at half time when poor defending allowed Hearts full back Callum Patterson to head home a brace of goals.

Despite Jordan Forster’s bullet header midway through the second period halving the deficit Hibs failed to net an equaliser although James Collins will be having nightmares about his fresh air swipe from three yards out with minutes remaining.

Butcher remained bullish after the game and told BBC Sportsound ‘I’m still utterly convinced that we’re going to be fine,’

‘But we must play at the level of performance we played at today, if not higher.

‘The result doesn’t reflect the actual nature of the game for me, they’ve scored two goals against the run of play.

‘I think we deserved something from the game but that’s how things are going for us.

‘We certainly put in a very good performance here that was full of commitment. But it’s disappointing when you do everything and lose two goals from set pieces.
Hibs fans

Hibs fans are left dejected after Paterson’s double

‘We’ve got three games to come and we can’t do anything about this one now.

‘What’s it going to take? It’s going to take the confidence, the belief and bottle that we showed in this match, and take that forward into the next three games and we’ll be alright.

‘Half-time was a difficult team talk because you’re 2-0 down and the crowd are disappointed and angry.

‘We’re disappointed and angry as well but we’ve got to come out with a bit of control in the second half, which we did.

‘We reacted well in the second half but just couldn’t find that second goal. James Collins had a chance and you would have liked it to go in, because I’d have felt then we could probably go on and get a winner.

‘We’ll be hurting because of the reaction from lots and lots of people, but it’s their call, they can react whatever way they like. We’ve got a job to do and we want to finish that job off.”

Hearts boss Gary Locke backed up Butcher’s belief of avoiding the dreaded 11th spot and said “Hibs have good players and that was the least you expect.

“They gave Terry everything today and I fully expect them to stay up. They put us under a lot of pressure and made it very difficult. If they play with that spirit and commitment in the next couple of games they will win them.”