Dundee United 4 - 2 Hibs: Clinical visitors deliver a deadly blow to ambition

Although Hughes' players have been grimly holding onto the belief they could overhaul the Tannadice outfit despite a miserable run of results over the course of the past two months, goals from Jon Daly, Danny Swanson, David Goodwillie and Francisco Sandaza appear to have left fourth place as the best Hibs can achieve.

Hughes, with his never-say-die attitude will argue otherwise, but with just seven games remaining before the curtain comes down on the season, time is rapidly running out for Hibs, particularly when you consider three of those matches will be against the Old Firm, another a fourth Edinburgh derby of the season if Hearts can hold onto a top-six finish and a final encounter with United.

Points are notoriously hard to come by once the split comes into operation, as it will after Sunday's clash with Celtic and the following weekend's visit to Hamilton, Hibs' dismal record of just nine accumulated out of a possible 27 finally bringing about their downfall – barring a storming run-in which would seem most unlikely given recent events.

Motherwell, just two points behind Hibs, will also have a say, the Fir Park side having, like United, put together an impressive run of form at just the right time while the Edinburgh club, apparently unassailable earlier in the season, have faltered so badly.

While Hughes insisted in the preamble to this match that he hadn't set the bar too high in his first season as Hibs manager in declaring his target was to finish "best of the rest," it does, however, appear such a goal was perhaps just too much, his side having already outstripped last year's points total and seemingly certain to finish ahead of the sixth place they've occupied in each of the last three seasons.

Progress it undoubtedly is, but given the manner in which expectations rose so rapidly through October, November and December, it feels to the majority of fans that, when the Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Ross County last week is taken into account, that they've been running hard just to stand still.

Possibly the supporters, like Hughes, expected a little too much from a squad which, while containing undoubted talent and prolific strikers in Anthony Stokes, 20 so far for the season, and Derek Riordan, currently sitting on 15 goals, does have noticeable shortcomings.

Take Sol Bamba, Chris Hogg, Ian Murray and Colin Nish out of the equation, and there is a real lack of a physical presence, particularly in the middle of the park as was evident last night as Morgaro Gomis and Prince Buaben were all over Liam Miller, neutralising the Republic of Ireland star's effectiveness on the ball.

Hughes has also accused his players of being "soft," of lacking the mental toughness to cope when the pressure is on, recent performances vindicating the manager's opinion given that Hibs have all too often found themselves incapable of holding onto a lead.

It happened again on this occasion, Patrick Cregg's first goal of the season in just 38 seconds providing Hibs with the dream start in such a crucial match, the Irish star's effort taking a deflection past Dusan Pernis and causing United more than a little consternation as the home side threatened to add to that lead, a Riordan corner in particular provoking all sorts of mayhem in their penalty area before the ball was eventually cleared. However, Hogg needed to come up with a superb last-ditch tackle to halt Daly after a quickly taken free-kick had caught Hibs sleeping and it was the Easter Road skipper who was guilty of an illegal challenge on the same opponent that presented United with a penalty.

While Daly appeared to have made the most of Hogg's outstretched leg, the defender having been wrong-footed by Swanson's ball inside, and the home crowd howled their derision at referee Stevie O'Reilly's decision, Hughes had no complaints, declaring: "It was a stonewaller."

In saying that, Hughes was adamant Garry Kenneth had been guilty of a blatant push on Ian Murray prior to that incident just yards from the United goal-line but one which O'Reilly chose to ignore. Daly duly converted and worse was to come as Leith boy Swanson picked up a poor clearance to curl a wonderful effort beyond Graham Stack in the Hibs goal. As has happened so often recently, though, Hughes was left to bemoan the inadequacies in his defence.

He said: "I felt it was preventable, that we could have got out to him quicker. But the first ball into the box should have been met with a better header, it was a tame wee header. Kenneth or Andy Webster would have headed it 30 yards away."

Those goals rocked Hibs but even so John Rankin's precisely placed header presented Nish with a superb opportunity to equalise two minutes before the interval but rather than take the shot on, the striker elected to round Pernis and, having found the angle too tight to shoot, discovered no-one in place for his cutback.

Nish almost atoned on the restart, latching onto Miller's through ball and beating Pernis only to see the ball smack back off the far post where Riordan pounced but found the body of Sean Dillon get in the way of his shot.

Daly found the woodwork at the other end before Bamba stood off Goodwillie, allowing the United striker to angle the ball across Stack and into the corner of the net. Half-an-hour to go and it was game over although Hughes, having started with a more pragmatic 4-4-2 with Riordan partnering Nish through the middle, went for broke in introducing Stokes, the club's top scorer adding to his tally in injury time as he took Riordan's flick over the top and rolled it beyond Pernis.

By then, though, United had claimed a fourth, Sandaza coolly slotting the ball away after Buaben's clearance had found him and Goodwillie facing only Steven Thicot, his team-mate drawing the lone defender before supplying the killer pass. Hughes said: "Goals change games. We got off to such a good start but we didn't capitalise on it. We sat back, let them come into it. They were always going to do that, they are a good side. We had Nish one-on-one, he has hit the post and it's come back out and hit Riordan.

"At the end you look at it, 4-2 but I don't think four goals was a true reflection. But we are disappointed, very disappointed."