DAVID MARSHALL insists Hibernian can draw positives from their 3-0 defeat in the Edinburgh Derby as the Leith outfit crashed out of the Scottish Cup.
Josh Ginnelly reacted quickest to pounce on a loose ball in the Hibs box to put Hearts 1-0 up early on at Easter Road and then Lawrence Shankland made it 2-0 with 20 minutes to go with a lovely one-two and finish.
The Hearts captain was then sent off in stoppage time before Toby Sibbick added the icing on the cake with a superb dink over Marshall with a minute or two left to play.
The home side enjoyed plenty of the ball but failed to make it count; Hearts, by contrast, were ruthless when opportunities presented themselves. Marshall feels that his team deserved more than a 3-0 defeat.
“Yeah - for the first hour, I would say anyway,” he said. “In the first half it felt like we had a lot of pressure around Hearts' box but maybe nothing too clear-cut if you look back at it.
“Chris Cadden's had a chance that's been blocked and Zander Clark has had a couple of saves but nothing outrageous. We felt certainly for the first half we played well.
“Obviously they've been clinical. Shankland's in a good run of form and we've been disappointed with the goals we've conceded lately.
“We started the season quite strongly defensively and we've slipped a little bit. You're never as far away as you think and for the first hour of the game, we've matched Hearts and arguably were the better side but it comes down to goals.
“We still need to get some momentum going. We play Aberdeen next and we can get higher in the league. We've got a chance to do that.
“It's a tough one after today but we need to find a bit of confidence, bit of spark and go again. If you look back at the game, we can take some positives in terms of performances, which has been potentially lacking in recent months.”
Yesterday’s derby could well be Ryan Porteous’ final outing in the fixture. The centre-half is out of contract at the end of the season and Hibs may be tempted to cash in during the January window rather than allowing him to leave for nothing in the summer.
Marshall is expecting his team-mate to depart but believes the squad will be able to cope just fine.
“I think Ryan will more than likely go with his contract situation,” he said. “I think Rocky Bushiri went off injured as well so the manager might be looking to see how bad his injury.
“We've got Will Fish and also Paul Hanlon came back from a small injury. In terms of that, we should be equipped enough to do what we want to do.”
