Hibs: Caley defeat more painful than injury for Fracnsi Dickoh

FRANCIS DICKOH admitted his relief today at being back in the Hibs side was far outweighed by the disappointment of defeat to Inverness.

• SCARE: Dickoh is stretchered off after a clash of heads against Motherwell. Picture: SNS

The big defender received seven minutes of treatment on the Easter Road pitch during the game against Motherwell ten days ago after a sickening clash of heads with former Hibs striker Alan Gow inside the penalty box.

It had been feared that the Ghanaian had broken his cheekbone or, at the very least, suffered concussion from the knock and that he would be ruled out of action for some time. However X-Rays at hospital after the match later revealed that no permanent damage had been caused and the player was able to return to training with his team-mates just a few days later.

He was delighted to be back in the starting line-up in time for Saturday's game against Inverness at the centre of defence, alongside Sol Bamba. But he was far from happy as the final whistle blew at the Caledonian Stadium as Hibs went down 4-2, with goals from Derek Riordan and Liam Miller little consolation as their miserable run away to Caley continued.

Dickoh said: "I am still a little bit bruised but I am okay and I was happy that I could play at the weekend. Obviously I gave what I had and maybe I let the team down - in fact, we all did, and we let ourselves down.

"I was initially worried about a fracture but I went to hospital straight after the game and had an X-Ray that showed it wasn't broken. It was a relief to have it confirmed and so on the Monday I took it easy and then Tuesday I was back in training.

"When you are in the back line and you let in four goals then you feel like you have let the team down. It's not only about me, my performance was not any worse than anyone else but it wasn't any better either.

"We win as a team and we lose as a team and everyone feels the disappointment of it.

"We have to correct the mistakes that we made on Saturday and we have to help each other so that we don't make the same mistakes again." The Easter Road side have only beaten Inverness away from home once, and that game was at Pittodrie, so their record of never having left the Caledonian Stadium with more than a point still stands - and Dickoh insisted that he and his team-mates only had themselves to blame for this latest defeat.

He continued: "We have not had the best of results in Inverness but it is not down to bad luck, it is just bad effort. We went into the match with a plan to take the three points and it didn't work out for us - not at all, from any aspect of the game.We lost deservedly, in my opinion."

For almost the entire second half, Hibs were forced to play with just ten men on the park after Paul Hanlon was sent off for a deliberate handball right on the goalline.

The young defender had only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes, having been brought on at half-time to replace Michael Hart. Hanlon used his hand to stop a certain Adam Rooney goal from close range but his intervention only delayed Caley's second of the game by seconds as referee Steve Conroy awarded a penalty, flashed the red card at the Hibs player and the home striker converted the spot.

However Dickoh felt that the Easter Road outfit actually played better when they were up against it numerically.

"Obviously Adam Rooney scored some goals against us but I think that we probably gave him a lot of room.

"I thought that we played better with ten men on the park, I thought that we pushed forward more and that we were more direct. There wasn't too much thinking in between, it was just about moving towards the goal and so we managed to string some good football together."

If the referees' dispute can be resolved in time for this weekend, Hibs will face St Johnstone at Easter Road on Saturday and Dickoh is determined that his side rediscover the form which had seen them defeat both Rangers and Motherwell in their two previous matches.

Dickoh believes that the home crowd can help spur Hibs on but also that the players owe their fans a decent showing after the manner in which they lost out to Caley.

Hibs manager Colin Calderwood took some positives out of the game, saying afterwards that he was pleased with the spirit his side showed to twice hit back, but Dickoh knows there is room for improvement: "It is always disappointing to lose but especially so when you have had some good results in the previous weeks going into the game against Inverness.

"We have to take a look at ourselves in the mirror and straighten things out before this weekend because we wouldn't have beaten any team with that performance. We have been playing much better football in the last few weeks and I am definitely confident that we can bounce back next weekend.

"We need to get straight back to winning ways because nobody can be happy with the performance that we put in on Saturday.

"It was not good enough for us as individuals or as team players for Hibernian Football Club."