Hibernian: Dean Gibson questions if players "care enough" after falling to sixth in SWPL

Hibernian head coach was disappointed by his players' response in 2-0 defeat to Spartans on Sunday

Dean Gibson has asked his Hibernian players if they “care enough” after they restarted the SWPL season with a 2-0 defeat to Spartans.

Two goals in two second half minutes from Katherine Smart and Becky Galbraith handed Hibs their fifth loss of the season and meant they dropped to sixth in the SWPL table.

And the Hibs head coach was disappointed at how they let their heads drop so alarmingly.

“I think lots were asked of the players and it's up to them to answer it in the next couple of weeks,” Gibson told Anyone’s Game.

“When we do go behind, do we want it enough? Do we care enough? Have we got enough commitment and desire? Because when it was 0-0 and the game was even, I think we looked the better side at that point, but at the same time Spartans have worked hard.

“They went ahead and for me the disappointment is how we responded to going behind. I felt they could have responded a lot better.”

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SWPL Cup holders Hibernian had high hopes in pre-season of at least matching their second place finish from last season and claiming a Champions League spot.

Now though, Gibson admits simply finishing in the top half of the table is the aim from now until the rest of the season after picking up just nine points from eight games.

But Gibson is convinced his side are better than the league table currently suggests, and he knows exactly where the problem lies.

Last season, Hibs averaged 3.95 goals per game, but this year that has dropped to 1.9 per game so far.

“It’s a problem that we’ve had all season,” he said. “I know this is the restart. but if you include the first seven games when we’re on top we don’t seem to take our chances. We had a lot of territorial possession but when we got it into the final third we need a bit mote belief in front of goal.

“We do okay at times; we work the ball into good areas and the build up is good, but we lack composure or make the wrong decisions.

“There’s certainly things to work on, but the question is when we go behind do we want to get back into the game? Against Spartans I don’t think we did look like we could get back into the game.

“2-0 is a horrible score line; when you’re 2-0 down with 30 minutes to go it’s naturally going to deflate you, but we need to show a better reaction.”