'Amateur' Hibs lucky to still be in cup

The Easter Road side were leading 2-1 with barely ten minutes remaining when Hughes' players were caught napping, leaving County's Michael Gardyne all alone in acres of space to claim an equaliser.

Thereafter, Hibs lived on their nerves, Ian Murray taking a Martin Scott effort off the line in the last minute with goalkeeper Graham Stack's face getting in the way of the midfielder's shot from the rebound.

Now Hibs face a tricky trip to Dingwall's Victoria Park tomorrow week but, Hughes insisted, they can still claim their place in the semi-finals as they seek to finally end that 108-year wait for the Scottish Cup.

A frustrated Hibs boss said: "We got lucky, there's no doubt about that. You have to give credit where it is due but I look at the game from our point of view and, when we are 2-1 up, no matter how we are playing, we should be able to see the game out.

"I look at their equaliser and ask, who took responsibility? It was amateur stuff, embarrassing, 'after you, Claude' defending. We needed someone to get over there and take responsibility.

"The frustrating thing is we had been working hard on team shape, defending in relation to the ball but that was unacceptable."

A long trip to Dingwall and an extra match is something Hibs could well do without but Hughes was today adamant his side have what it takes to keep their Cup dream alive, pointing out to the openings created on Saturday.

He said: "It will be difficult, there will be a great atmosphere and they will most definitely be up for it. But we will prepare meticulously and I think we will create chances.

"There's not been many games in which we haven't made chances and, if we can keep that back door shut, then we are more than capable of going up there and winning."

Hibs, of course, have the small matter of the third Edinburgh derby of the season at Tynecastle this weekend to contend with before they head north, but Hughes pointed out County will be in exactly the same position as they face close neighbours Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

He said: "We need to focus on Saturday. We'll probably talk about the Cup game today, get it out of the system, give them their chance to say and then turn our attention to the derby.

"But County have a derby game of their own so their can be no excuses. We all know what is at stake, we need to take the bull by the horns. What we cannot do is go around with our heads down feeling sorry for ourselves, we need nothing other than positive thoughts, strong characters."

Hibs' SPL match against Dundee United which was due to take place at Easter Road a week on Wednesday will now be rearranged although no new date has yet been set.