Two goals either side of half-time led to an underwhelming second half performance, which condemn us to defeat.
When speaking to Hibs TV after the game, our manager gave his thoughts.
“I’m deeply disappointed with the result and even more disappointed with the performance in the second half.
“In the first half, at times, we were very good. What’s most disappointing is that we have one setback from a set play in the second half and we allowed that to completely alter how we played; that’s not acceptable. We can’t accept that.
“It’s traits like this that were probably the reason why we were seventh when I came in. At times we’ve shown that we can irradicate them, but they resurfaced today in a big, big game. In the second half I learned a lot.”
Maloney also made his feelings on the second half performance clear to the players.
“There are certain reasons (for the second half performance) and the way I spoke to the players there, I let them know. Those reasons will stay in the dressing room.
“We can talk about how we play, a style of play, but that doesn’t matter if we’re not going to compete; that’s the basics of football at any level. In the second half we didn’t compete and that’s not acceptable.”
That result sees us miss out on the top six, but the players do have a chance of redemption in the Scottish Cup next weekend.
“We have to be realistic. I came in at seventh and there were big problems at that point. There’s been sometimes in the last few months where things have been better, and the league’s been that tight that we’ve moved up and down.
“The league doesn’t lie; we don’t deserve to be top six and there’s reasons for that.
“We have a very young team and we saw that second half; they have to learn quickly that it’s in moments like that where you need a big character.
“What they have, and they earned it with the Motherwell victory, is an opportunity to make sure that next week is very different.”
