Warren O’Hora defended Hibernian’s mentality after their “very cruel” Conference League exit at the hands of Gent.
The Hibees squandered a 2-1 lead in the closing stages of Thursday’s play-off second leg at Easter Road, with Miguel Chaiwa’s stoppage-time own goal earning the Belgians a 3-2 aggregate victory and a place in the league phase.
“Football is very cruel at times,” said O’Hora. “Sometimes you don’t get what you deserve. I’m heartbroken. We deserved more, the fans deserved more, the club deserved more, but ultimately we didn’t get there. It’s a hard one to take.”
For the second year in succession, Hibs let a Conference League play-off slip from their grasp after they suffered an agonising 4-3 defeat by Legia Warsaw at the same stage last August.
O’Hora railed against any suggestion there is a mentality issue at play, with David Gray’s side having been undermined by the concession of late goals on too many occasions over the past couple of years.
“I don’t think that’s in question, to be honest,” said O’Hora. “I think we’ve been asked questions from the start of the season.
“We were 2-0 down in the first game [against Malisheva]. Asked the big question, come to Easter Road and turn it round, and we did.
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“We won the first leg against the Macedonian team (Shkendija) and had to go away in conditions that we’re not used to, and we got through.
“Then we go to Gent, an historic club, and put a performance in and get a result (a 0-0 draw). In between that, we’ve had Rangers away – asked the big question (when Rangers equalised), and we get a result (2-1 victory).
“We had a Premier Sports Cup game in between that as well, and got through that. We gave everything against Gent and we didn’t get what we deserved, especially on the second-half performance.
“I don’t think the mentality is questionable for this group of players. We all know that we had a right chance. We didn’t take it, but I don’t think we can fault the effort or anything like that.”
Hibs return to action away to Dundee in the William Hill Premiership on Sunday and O’Hora knows there needs to be a strong response.
“That is the beauty of this game and it’s the beauty of being at this club, it’s the pressure, it’s why everybody wants to come to this club,” said O’Hora. “It’s because of the expectation and rightly so.
“We should be getting results in Europe and this club should be in Europe, but we just came short.
“We now have to pick ourselves up to go again for Sunday because we want to be in this position again next season. For that to happen, we need to concentrate on Dundee. We’ll dust ourselves off and make sure we’re ready.”
