John Hughes warns Hibs players 'this must never happen again'

HIBERNIAN manager John Hughes admits he never again wants to be put through the embarrassing experience of losing a four-goal lead, following his team's astonishing capitulation against Motherwell on Wednesday night.

• In hindsight, Colin Nish is inviting disaster with this gesture at Fir Park in midweek. Picture: PA

The Easter Road manager has come in for an increasing amount of criticism from fans recently, during the club's run of six consecutive defeats in the SPL. More flak has come his way following his post-match remarks at Fir Park after he blamed his strikers for their part in turning a 6-2 lead into a 6-6 draw in the final 26 minutes of the match.

Yesterday he was less willing to point the finger at his front men – Colin Nish, Anthony Stokes and Derek Riordan scored all Hibs' goals – and instead accused some of his players of not having the heart to win the kind of battle Hibs found themselves in, when a Europa League spot was at stake. Nish was also singled out for praise.

"I've never been in a game like that before and I never want to be involved in one like that ever again," Hughes told the Hibs website. "I'm a positive guy and I try to see the best in people, but I've got mixed emotions from that game – it feels like a defeat.

"There were one or two individual errors and these things happen, but we should have been good enough to have seen it out.

"To come to Fir Park and score six goals with Colin Nish scoring a hat-trick was good – you can't ask any more of the forward players than that. But we need to be more resolute and show a better strength of character. Sometimes when the ball is getting battered in there and it is a bit like the Alamo, some guys rise above it and head it away which is right up my street. But I felt one or two of them didn't show the right character required in order to be on the winning side and that is really disappointing.

"It was great for TV viewers, but as a coach or as a manager that is not football for me. Some of the goals we conceded were unacceptable and you can see where the problems lie."

Nish was interviewed on television immediately after Wednesday's match and was clearly furious with his team-mates for throwing away a win over their direct rivals in the race for a Europa League place. But yesterday he was ready to take a share of the blame, appearing to fall in line with his manager's comments the previous evening.

"It wasn't just the defence's fault," the striker said. "Me and Stokesy didn't hold the ball up well in the second half. I thought the whole team was guilty of taking our foot off the pedal and that was very unprofessional."