Celtic 3-2 Hibs: Hibs lower the expectations

TALK of splitting the Old Firm or even mounting a title challenge of their own was silenced so long ago as to seem today to almost belong to a bygone era while Hibs' hopes of claiming third place in the SPL table similarly disappeared, the upshot of a miserable run which has now seen John Hughes' players win just twice in 14 matches.

Hardly the credentials of a side eyeing a place in Europe next season but, claimed striker Anthony Stokes, he and his team-mates can realise that dream, perhaps not by earning themselves the tag of "best of the rest" but by holding on to the fourth position they currently occupy.

While it has increasingly appeared as if the Easter Road side may do well to grimly cling to that spot with the breath of Motherwell and, latterly, that of Capital rivals Hearts hot on their neck, there will be some comfort if they can maintain the advantage they currently enjoy over both of those clubs as the games rapidly run out.

There again, it's all become so tight that one surprise result can change the whole landscape, the vastly superior goal difference Hibs once enjoyed, and which might have proved so useful in a photo-finish, having also evaporated to a great extent with, as Hughes acknowledged, his side leaking too many goals – 12 in their last four games alone.

However, despite the disappointment of seeing a 2-1 lead against Celtic surrendered in the final ten minutes, the Republic of Ireland striker insisted: "If we play the way we did on Saturday then we'll pick up points.

"We're not going to get third so we have to keep fourth spot to the end of the season."

Few would argue with Stokes' assertion on the evidence of these 90 minutes in the east end of Glasgow, Hibs coming close, but not close enough, to emulating their victory at this venue in January, a time when every Hibs fan was filled with optimism, oblivious at that point as to the catastrophic run on which their team was about to embark.

The difficulty, though, for Hughes is being able to believe his players can replicate this performance four more times, the Hibs boss undoubtedly recalling how Celtic were run so close at Easter Road only a couple of weeks ago only for that stirring and promising display to be followed by a totally abject show at New Douglas Park the following weekend.

Therein lies the conundrum for Hughes who also knows his resources, already stretched by skipper Chris Hogg's ongoing back problem, the loss of playmaker Merouane Zemmama for the rest of the season and niggling injuries to Patrick Cregg and Alan Gow, will be pushed to breaking point as suspensions for Sol Bamba, Ian Murray, Kevin McBride and Darren McCormack kick in.

Already under pressure from a support which has become somewhat restless as those heady expectations were dashed, Hughes will struggle, in the final derby of the season in particular, to field a recognisable back four, Hibs' hopes appearing to rest even more on the goal-scoring exploits of Stokes and Derek Riordan, the pair taking their tallies for the season to 20 and 16 respectively although, as the former admitted, scoring hardly counts when the team ends up losing.

Hughes hinted at the hard thinking he'll be forced to do over the coming days when he said: "I've always said we will score goals, but we are leaking too many. Hopefully we'll get back to cleansheets which will give us the platform to go and win games."

A glance at the "for and against" columns serve to merely highlight Hughes' observation, 49 goals scored but 43 conceded, Hibs having now managed just one shut-out in their last 18 League matches, a statistic which, to some extent, has nullified the potency of Stokes and Riordan at the other end of the pitch as the former Arsenal and Sunderland youngster admitted.

He said: "I'm happy with the goals I have scored but goals like the one I scored on Saturday don't mean a lot to me because it is all about the team at the end of the day."

Stokes' 51st minute penalty, however, looked like counting big-style, not only in Hibs' race for Europe but in setting Rangers up for a party at Ibrox 24 hours later, his strike having put the Edinburgh club ahead after Hughes' side had been hit by a fourth minute goal from Robbie Keane, one which was cancelled out by Riordan less than 120 seconds later.

The anxiety which had been growing within a sparsely populated Celtic Park dissipated in an instant, however, as Marc Antoine-Fortune pounced to knock the ball home after Graham Stack could only parry a close-range effort from Keane, the home fans then sensing what had appeared an unlikely winner, one which duly arrived via the boot of substitute Morten Rasmussen although there was a hint of offside against the Dane.

Stokes admitted he and his team-mates had themselves to blame as much as the predatory skills of the opposition forwards – all three scorers by the way signed by former Hoops boss Tony Mowbray – although he insisted Hughes' players must find that "Old Firm mindset" which sees Celtic and Rangers come back from seemingly hopeless situations so often.

He said: "We got ragged, we lost our shape and paid the price. It was disappointing having gone a goal down, getting back on level terms, going ahead and putting so much into the game for 80 minutes, it feels as if we have thrown it away.

"The thing with Celtic and Rangers is that even if they go two or three goals down they still feel they can come back and win and that's something we need to get in our dressingroom, that mental side that we can go to Celtic Park and Ibrox and beat them."

Stack, while far busier than Artur Boruc at the other end, admitted he felt Hibs had weathered the storm and even when Fortune equalised, believed he and his team-mates could hold out for what would have been a precious point.

The goalkeeper said: "At 2-1 up with ten minutes to go, you'd like to think we'd get something out of the game, certainly a point if we were not to go on and win it.

"We knew we'd be under pressure, they had chances that raised everyone and their manager made changes to go very attacking.

"I thought we had weathered the storm but, unfortunately, they nicked one. At that stage you are thinking "Okay, let's just get a point.

"Unfortunately that wasn't to be."

And despite the latest disappointment Hughes, insisted he saw "glimpses" of the form which had lit up Hibs' early season returning. He said: "There are seven managers under us who would give their right arm to be where we are. We had a really good first half of the season, the last six or seven weeks have been disappointing but I have been seeing glimpses of it coming back."

Again, though, can Hibs produce enough of those "glimpses" against Rangers, Hearts, Motherwell and Dundee United to make this a reasonably successful season, one which most fans would probably have accepted away back in August, although ultimately, of course, not quite as successful as everyone hoped at the turn of the year?