Three days before facing Celtic in the semi-final of the Betfred Cup Paul Heckingbottom has accused his players of lacking commitment.
The honeymoon is well and truly over for the former Barnsley boss who watched his side snatch a point against Livingston to keep them away from bottom spot in the SPFL.
Substitute Martin Boyle came up with a stoppage time equaliser but it was the starting XI, the men chosen by Heckingbottom that took the brunt of his criticism.
Speaking to the BBC the Hibs boss said:
You’re looking at the first-half display compared to the second, there was more fight, more drive and more desire. I’m frustrated because why should it take a tactical change or a b****cking to get people up and running and get them playing the way they should? It should not take that, but that’s where we are.
People will say we should have more points but you get what you deserve. I’ll watch the game back and I know in the first half I’ll see some positives but I’ll also see players not 100% committed, and the second half proves that.
Last night’s draw means that Hibs haven’t won in the SPFL since the opening game of the season when a late Scott Allan goal earned the points against St Mirren.
It took a penalty shoot out to see off Kilmarnock in the quarter finals with the SPFL cutting their ticket allocation to Hampden down to 10,500 while Celtic have an official allocation of 36,000.
With Neil Lennon in the opposite dug-out on Saturday Hibs fans will have a very clear contrast between the old and the new, in season 2017/18 Lennon took Hibs to fourth place in the SPFL, six points behind second placed Aberdeen.
