Hibs boss says he was right not to make changes

Published on Monday 5 October 2009 09:55

HIBS boss John Hughes today defended his decision not to make any changes as he watched his side battle out a 1-1 draw with Dundee United declaring: "I already had four match-winners on the pitch."

Hughes admitted he was disappointed at having to settle for a point which nevertheless pushed the Easter Road outfit into second place in the SPL table for 24 hours, but was delighted at the performance of his players.

Merouane Zemmama scored for the second week in a row having earlier hit the post, as had Anthony Stokes, while United goalkeeper Nicky Weaver was forced into a string of good saves from the Republic of Ireland striker, David Wotherspoon and Derek Riordan before the latter missed a glorious chance to put Hibs two up.

A deflected shot from former Hearts defender Andy Webster earned United their draw but Hughes today claimed it was only a matter of time before an opposing side found themselves on the end of a hammering given the chances his players created not only on Saturday but the previous week at Fir Park.

And it was that belief which convinced him not to tinker with a starting line-up which included four strikers in Zemmama, Stokes, Riordan and Abdessalam Benjelloun although he did have the likes of Colin Nish, Danny Galbraith and John Rankin on the bench.

He revealed: "I always try to pick a bench which is very attack minded and in the situation we were in all the permutations at our disposal do run through your mind.

"But I see these guys in training every day and all it takes is a split-second, one wee dip of the shoulder and the ball is in the back of the net. A chance out of nothing and you are away with all three points.

"Unfortunately a second goal just didn't come for us and I had a bunch of players in the dressing room afterwards who were hurting at only getting a point."

Despite that disappointment Hughes believes he is seeing genuine signs of improvement, a fact reflected in Hibs sitting third in the league although he still believes they have to overcome one of their biggest enemies, inconsistency.

He said: "The overhead conditions on Saturday were horrendous and I think both sides take credit for putting on an entertaining game, two teams fully committed and trying to win.

"While I was pleased to see us get the first goal I was saying to Brian Rice (his assistant] that we needed a second while we were on top."

So pleasing was Hibs' performance at that point Hughes was cursing the half-time whistle knowing the interval would allow Craig Levein to reorganise his side, a task which the United manager attacked in a manner his players had never seen before according to defender Mihael Kovacevic.

Hughes added: "I was delighted with my players' attitude and commitment but we knew United would come out, be in our faces and try to dominate the game. We talked about it but in the first 20 minutes of the second half we invited them on to us."

Even so Hughes believed his side had "got away with it" until Webster's long-range shot clipped the shoulder of Sol Bamba and went in off goalkeeper Graham Stack's left-hand post.

Hughes added: "It took something of a wonder goal to prevent us winning but I'd like to think everyone has seen signs of improvement as the season has gone along. Hopefully we are now starting to get a bit consistency, to rid ourselves of being unpredictable and that both the fans and myself know what they are going to get."