Hibernian boss Jack Ross refuses to blame Darren McGregor after red card

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Hibernian boss Jack Ross has refused to blame Darren McGregor after defenders received a red card against Rijeka as the Scottish Premiership side withdrew from the Europa Conference League.

Instead, Ross insisted their first leg failures proved costly after a 4-1 loss to Croatia that saw Hibs knocked out 5-2 on aggregate.

Everything was going well in the second leg until the middle of the second half, when with the score 1-1 on the night after Kyle Magennis called up Domagoj Pavicics’ opener for the hosts, McGregor was sent off. to a second yellow card.

Playing with 10 men proved too much for Hibs and Rijeka wasted no time making full use of his power play as Issah Abass struck and Paul McGinn scored his own goal before Denis Busnja do not complete the score in added time.

Ross felt the score flattered Rijeka and pointed out that the damage had already been done in Edinburgh last week.

Those who know Darren and know how committed he is know he’s in pain right now, the Hibs boss said.

He had no complaints about the two warnings. The second came when we were in the ascendant and in possession of the ball and then we were returned and he was forced to give the free kick.

Mistakes happen and it is our response as a group that will be key. He (McGregor) knows because he’s honest it had a major impact on how the game unfolded.

Kyles was a great goal, but we can’t defend like we did as a team. We need to be more robust in the games.

I think when we think about overall equality there are a few key aspects that certainly don’t come here with a head start on the opportunities we’ve created at Easter Road.

Rijeka put Hibs at the edge of the sword with three goals after the red card, but Ross is adamant it wasn’t a fair reflection on procedure.

There was a real conviction that we could progress. The players have earned the right to believe with their performances over the past 18 months and we are sore because the score seems like we have something to do. We didn’t get it tonight, it was just how the last part of the game went for us.

Tonight we faced a good team in their own stadium and the atmosphere was electric but we held on.

There is something positive to remember. We can be happy with the level of performance we’ve produced in some parts of the game, but whether you have 10 or 11 men, it’s important to defend better and be more robust in some parts of the game.

There are a lot of things we can be happy with on both stages and we want to come back here, which means either finishing where we did in the league or winning a cup.

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