Gray must fix Hibs discipline as 'horrible' season peters out

[BBC]

What a horrible afternoon it was at Easter Road on Sunday.

Plenty of fans stayed away, choosing to do something else rather than watch a game where opinions were split on whether a Hibs win would actually be a good thing.

For the avoidance of doubt, I can't imagine I'll ever see a day when I head to Easter Road hoping for a Hibs loss, and I certainly wanted us to win on Sunday.

Whatever happens with the title will be decided elsewhere, and whoever wins it will deserve it as the best team over the course of the season.

We've had plenty of opportunities to do something meaningful about it and came up short.

Despite what some fans wanted, there was never any doubt that David Gray would set his side up to win the game.

With Motherwell having lost to Falkirk on Saturday, his team had the dual incentive of trying to close the gap on fourth place while maintaining some breathing space above sixth.

For the third successive game, we found ourselves down to 10 men early in the match, and the game was effectively killed as a spectacle at that point.

Gray must make keeping 11 men on the pitch a priority, as the past three defeats have killed our ambitions for the season.

It's not only the points that the red cards have cost us, though. The games have also been murder to watch as a result - 270 minutes of Hibs barely laying a glove on their opponents, including against Hearts and Celtic at Easter Road.

It is unacceptable, and the players must do better for Gray.

It's been a horrible season - one that promised so much but now looks likely to end in the worst possible way.

We now head to Falkirk, where we produced one of the worst performances of the season last time, needing a win to ensure we don't put fifth place at risk. And fifth place is far from a good season as it is.

You can find Matty Fairnie at Longbangers podcast