McBride ready to get Hibs season back on track

The midfield star was stunned as referee Iain Brines sent off Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty before also sending him packing following a first-half flare-up at Easter Road, leaving both facing an automatic one-match suspension.

However, in effect, McBride was left idle for three weeks, serving that ban as he sat out Hibs' next match against St Mirren before the SPL was put into cold storage for a fortnight as Scotland's European Championship qualifying campaign got underway.

"Frustrated" was the description the former Celtic, Motherwell and Falkirk player applied both to the incident which caused him to see red and the fall-out caused by Brines' decision.

The flashpoint which had such far-reaching consequences came as Lafferty clashed with McBride's team-mate Liam Miller, the Rangers player falling to the ground in front of the Hibs star just as he put his foot through the ball.

It crashed off the Northern Ireland internationalist who lept to his feet and rushed at his opponent, sparking an unsavoury incident in which a number of players became embroiled.

Today, while accepting Brines' ruling, McBride remained adamant he had done nothing wrong. He said: "The whistle hadn't sounded, the ball was still in play when I connected. All I was trying to do was clear it and it's hit Lafferty.

"I have to admit I was shocked when I saw him being sent off but when I saw him being shown the red card there was the worry that the ref would even things up."

McBride's worst fear was realised, left to watch events unfold on television in the kit room, his mood not helped by a hat-trick from former Hibs star Kenny Miller which, ultimately, eased Rangers to a far more comfortable victory than had appeared possible in that fateful 43rd minute.

The Hibs player said: "It was a big day, our first SPL game at home of the season, the champions as our opponents and the new East Stand open for the first time. The sendings off spoiled it, I think, with both teams down to ten.

"We'd been doing pretty well in the first half and in the opening 15 minutes of the second half but Rangers looked good towards the end of the game. In losing me the team lost a defensive player, I'm not someone who gets forward into the opposition box too often as I like to help out the defensive and that killed us a bit.

"I'm still not too sure it was a red but the referee makes the decisions and you just have to get on with it."

An appeal against Brines' decision was considered but the idea dismissed as, it is understood, it was indicated to Hibs they'd be highly unlikely to succeed, leaving McBride to watch, again in frustration, as his team-mates went down 1-0 to Saints the following weekend.

He said: "I don't think it was our best performance, but I don't feel St Mirren played that much better than us. It didn't help we then had this international break, no-one likes going into something like that with a defeat to reflect on for a fortnight.

"It hasn't been forgotten, though, and now everyone is determined to get that win on Saturday although, again, it won't be easy."

Back-to-back defeats didn't help the mood of many supporters who had already seen Hibs crash out of the Europa League at the hands of Slovenian outfit NK Maribor but a wild rumour, given a wider circulation thanks to a radio station, that Hughes had quit again left McBride baffled and bemused. "I got a phone call about it but none of the players had heard anything of the sort, it was just a bit of nonsense," he said. "We are all happy with what the manager is doing, we have good players here and we know where the manager wants to go."

McBride, however, acknowledged that supporters get as frustrated as players at times and has no complaints when they give voice to their dissatisfaction.

He said: "If you are a supporter you expect your team to win every week no matter who they are playing. It's not going to happen, we all know that, but the fans are entitled to their opinions.

"They get frustrated but we, as players, also get frustrated when we don't perform as well as we can and lose.

"However, I think there's very little between the teams in the SPL outwith the Old Firm. Rangers and Celtic don't finish first and second every year by fluke, it's because they are the best two teams in Scotland.

"There was talk of them being split last season but it didn't happen as consistency is a problem for other clubs and that's something we need to get into our game a bit more."

To lend strength to his argument McBride added: "We are only three games into the season and there's already been a few results no-one would have predicted. Who'd have thought Inverness would have gone to Tannadice and beaten Dundee United 4-0?

"And then Hamilton, who'd lost successive matches 4-0 went up there and were beaten while Kilmarnock went to Aberdeen, who had won their opening two games while Killie had lost theirs', and won."

Although he has yet to face Caley in a green and white shirt, McBride is well aware Terry Butcher's side have proved something of a nemesis for Hibs in recent seasons but, he insisted, it's a record he and his team-mates are determined to correct.

And he believes the new East Stand can help in that goal not only this Saturday but in subsequent weeks. He said: "When I came to Easter Road with Motherwell and then Falkirk that old East Stand was brilliant, very hostile.

"The fans over there never spared any opposition player. The new stand is very imposing, it strikes you as you run out the tunnel and when it is packed, as it was for the Rangers game, then I'm sure other teams will find it very intimidating. We've now got two games at home, matches which I am sure the fans will expect us to take all six points. Both will be tough but as players we share the same aim as the supporters, two victories. We put pressure on ourselves every week. Hopefully we'll put on good performances, but the most important thing is to win."

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