Managers Post Hibs

05/11/11: JM - "I thought they were immense

Jim McIntyre felt that it was a vital three points for his team at Easter Road, three that had been a long time in coming and had felt like an eternity given his side retained the lead from two minutes twelve seconds into the game:-

"When you score early you are always going to face a reaction from the home team. I thought the team was exceptional going forward and Paul Willis did fantastically well and it was a great goal from a great ball in from him.

"It was how we wanted to start because we have spoken about the number of times that teams get the first goal against us. It is hard to recover from that and the stats back that up - the first goal is so important. We also spoke about being tight and not gifting teams goals which we have done for the past couple of months.

"That gives you mountains to climb and we never did that today. When we needed our goalkeeper to make a couple of saves, and I don't think he had too many to make, but when he is called upon he is as reliable as they come."

The winning goal came from the most unlikely goalscorer. It was Austin McCann's first ever goal for the Club and his Manager was full of praise for the different game that he asked his captain to play:-

"He played the position really well. Paddy Boyle was unfortunate to be left out but we just felt that with big O'Connor up there and Agogo we needed a bit more height. We put Keddie on the left side, brought Dowie in, pushed Austin on and took Paddy out and it worked well.

"Hibs had a lot of pressure so I don't think you can question their hunger. Sometimes when you have poor results it can dent confidence and with the injuries that we have at the minute, can sometimes galvanise you. We said that to the players but you still need that bit of luck along the way, your goalie to make saves, but we tried to use it today to our advantage and say 'stick together and make sure that you are a team and not play the game like individuals'. I thought they were immense, really superb."

The Manager might have been pleased with the away win, he might have enjoyed the shut out - the first in ten games but he was adamant that it was the three points that really mattered.

"I keep hearing managers go on about philosophies and brands but it is all about three points. At the end of the day each club is entitled to play the way they want. We won the First Division playing good football and we have been complimented on our football earlier in the season but when you haven't had a run of results, it's all about winning."

After wins in Perth, Dundee and now Edinburgh Macca is keen to take that away success back to East End Park:-

"That would be nice. I am sure that my Board of Directors is desperate for that to try and get a few more fans through the door. We will take a win in any shape or form just to get us going again."

Referring to the fans' reaction, Hibs gaffer Colin Calderwood said: "It's a shocking result for us and we take the blame for it and we've got to take whatever's thrown at us. We'll have to absorb that and come back and fight another day.  We shouldn't lose like that, in that manner.

"We played below par as a team and too many individuals played nowhere near it. In the end we didn't exert any of our quality or ability or have any sustained threat at all.  We've got to be a lot better,

"We've got to prove to them (the fans) and the outside public that we can sustain good performances and that today doesn't lead you to think that.  I pick the team, so I've got to take the majority of it (the responsibility).  We can go from looking fairly good, looking fairly positive, looking fairly sound to the opposite of all of them."