Hibs 1-4 Hamilton: Hughes tells Hibs they can forget Europe if defending doesn't improve

The Easter Road outfit passed up a chance a close the gap on third-placed Dundee United – who defeated Raith Rovers in the Active Nation Scottish Cup semi-finals yesterday – after capitulating in the second half at New Douglas Park. Hibs had battled their way back into the game after falling behind to a Simon Mensing penalty early in the first half and, in fact, had probably been the better side for the remainder of the 45 minutes.

They had gone in level at the break thanks to a headed goal from Colin Nish and emerged from the tunnel for the restart probably believing they had the beating of Billy Reid's side. However, any thoughts of heading back to Edinburgh with all three points were killed off when Hibs conceded their second spot-kick of the game, which was again converted by Mensing.

Joel Thomas did the rest of the damage, curling home a stunning effort to put his side further in front and then ending the match as a contest when he left Sol Bamba in no-man's land before rounding keeper Graham Stack and rolling Accies' fourth into the empty net.

Hughes' side have now conceded seven penalties in their last 12 games and the Hibs manager says they must get to the bottom of the reason for that and fix it, before it's too late.

Having seen sub Abdesallam Benjelloun miss a chance to make it 4-2 in the dying minutes with a penalty of their own, Hughes said: "My assessment of the game was that we didn't get out of the traps in the first 15 minutes and then went and conceded a penalty again. After that, I felt we controlled the game for the next 30 minutes.

"We got our goal and I said to them at half-time that we would go on and win the game if we kept our discipline and go and play. But to concede a penalty so early in the second half was disappointing and I think that is now seven penalties in the last 12 games we have played. There has to be a reason for that.

"At that stage, I still thought we had enough to get ourselves back in the game but then they got their goals, their third was a smashing goal, and that killed it.

"You can't defend the way we are defending and still expect to win matches. As a coach, or manager, I am sitting looking at the situation and thinking that we're maybe not as good as we think we are.

"We are going to have to play much better than that if we want to go and win matches in the top six and chase a European spot.

"It takes time to get it right. What the boys have given me up to now in terms of the top six, good on them. Now we have got to go after a European spot but, if we play like we did against Hamilton, then we will not get it."

With Chris Hogg ruled out by a recurrence of a back problem, Sol Bamba lined up beside Steven Thicot in the centre of defence and those two were given a real run for their money from Accies. The home side had came flying out of the blocks and threatened with just five minutes on the clock when a clever flick-on by James Wesolowski found Mickael Antoine-Curier in the middle of the box but the former Hibs striker's shot was well saved by Stack.

At the other end, a couple of minutes later, Anthony Stokes struck a powerful effort from the far side of the box after a ball in from the left but his effort was turned past the post by Tomas Cerny.

Hibs fans thought Accies' Dougie Imrie should have received a yellow card for a crunching challenge on young right-back Darren McCormack, right in front of the away dug-out but referee Steve Conroy chose only to have a word with the Hamilton player.

Accies were awarded a penalty with 15 minutes gone when McCormack handled a shot from Flavio Paixao. It didn't look to be intentional from the Hibs player but the effort might well have produced in a goal had it not been for his intervention and Conroy had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Mensing belted the spot-kick high into the net at the second attempt, after the first effort had been ruled out for encroachment in the box.

McCormack tried his luck with a cross tight to the goal-line that Cerny had to palm away with one hand at his top left-hand corner.

Hibs came even closer when Derek Riordan swung a corner in and Bamba got his head to it, only for the keeper and Ian Murray's knee to combine to keep the ball out of the net.

They did get a leveller, though, when McCormack again got space down the right and whipped a ball in that took a deflection and evaded everyone except Nish, who was lurking at the far post to head beyond Cerny into the net. Hibs could have snatched the lead just after the restart when McCormack teed up John Rankin but his snapshot was well blocked by former Easter Road defender Martin Canning before it could trouble Cerny.

Hamilton were awarded a second penalty with just under an hour gone when Murray was penalised for bringing down Imrie inside the box and a fight broke out between Mensing and sub Thomas over who should take it. The Englishman won and thundered the ball high into the net to Stack's left.

Imrie almost made it three with a cheeky effort just a few yards from the byline which Stack had to tip over with one hand but Thomas showed him how it should be done in 67 minutes when he produced one of the goals of the season to put Hamilton three up, the sub putting an unbelievable bend on a stunning shot from fully 25 yards that had Stack beaten all ends up.

Accies rounded off the scoring with ten minutes left when Thomas nicked the ball from Bamba and raced in on goal before rounding Stack and slotting calmly into the net.

Hibs could have reduced the deficit in the dying minutes when Rankin was tripped in the box by Canning only for Benjelloun to see his penalty saved by the legs of Cerny.

Accies boss Reid was delighted not only with the result but also the contribution of Thomas, whose goals were his first for the club since re-signing for them on loan from Colchester.

Reid said: "We've been playing well for eight or nine weeks now. I thought that for the first 20 minutes or so we played really well and then got the penalty to put us in front.

"Then we switched off and allowed Hibs to play. They were the better side going in at half-time.

"We responded straight after the break and I thought that the second half for us was brilliant.

"As for Joel Thomas, what do you say? He's threatened to do something at this club for so long and never really achieved it. We sold him on and there were probably a few raised eyebrows when we brought him back to the club – but that's the reason why we brought him back.

"His two goals were sensational, the first one in particular and the second one when he dummied the goalkeeper."