SWPL: Hibs have 'nothing to play for' - Gibson
Edinburgh side are suffering from a lack of focus after they slump to defeat to Spartans, suggests boss Dean Gibson
Hibernian have “nothing to play for” in the SWPL this season says manager Dean Gibson, after they slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Edinburgh rivals Spartans.
Two goals either side of the half-time from Becky Galbraith moved Spartans to within three points of fourth-placed Hibs in SWPL 1.
However, Hibs are 26 points off a Champions League qualifying spot, and Gibson believes his side were not as motivated as their Ainslie Park hosts.
“We were outfought,” Gibson told Anyone’s Game. “Spartans wanted it more than we did, and the second goal summed it up.
“We’ve got a lot of good players but we didn’t have a lot of fight today, and there’s no point being a good player if you don’t want to fight.
“There’s been more than one occasion this has happened this season. When we’re up for it against Rangers, Celtic and Glasgow City we look just as good as these teams. What City, Celtic and Rangers do to these teams is they blow them away so why don’t we, and I think it’s a mentality thing at times. We’re not getting up for the games properly.”
Only the top two teams in the SWPL reach the Champions League qualifiers, with Glasgow City and Rangers both on course to take those spots.
Any hope Hibernian had of being in that fight evaporated long ago, with just one win in 2022.
That has left Hibs with only the Scottish Women’s Cup to play for, with a trip to Partick Thistle in the last eight next month.
“Unless you’re challenging the teams above you, the league for us is gone,” said Gibson. “There’s nothing for us to play for in the league in terms of Champions League qualification. We’re not going to win the league.
“In men’s football people talk about that top four because it gets you into Europe, you don’t get into Europe for us so I’m not overly fussed about that, but what I am fussed about is us finishing as high as we can because it means we’ve won more games than we’ve lost.”
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