Source: Team_Talk
Hughes hails Hibs' fighting spirit
Hibs gave themselves a mountain to climb when they lost first-half goals to Michael Paton and Steven MacLean but Hughes went with five strikers at one stage and he was rewarded with a valuable point when substitute Abdessalam Benjelloun equalised from the spot three minutes from time.[LNB]Hughes said: "We got two breaks and got two goals. In terms of winning the match, apart from them hitting us on the break, I thought there was only going to be one winner in the second half.[LNB]"All credit to the boys, they showed real character and spirit to keep going and get us back into the match and it's going to have to be like that from now until the end of the season.[LNB]"I'm really delighted for them. It wasn't to be, we didn't pick up the three points but that was because we gave ourselves too much to do, coming off 2-0 down at half-time.[LNB]"We couldn't do anything about their second goal, it was a wonder strike and a flick to take it into the top corner.[LNB]"But at the first goal we could have defended better.[LNB]"But it's all positives. There's a belief there and a spirit that they are never beaten.[LNB]"And when I've got that kind of forward flair at my disposal, we are always going to score goals."[LNB]Aberdeen counterpart Mark McGhee felt his side should have had a penalty of their own in the first half when he claimed Paton had been tugged back by David Wotherspoon.[LNB]However, despite seeing his team pegged back from their two-goal advantage at half-time, the Dons boss insisted the draw still represented a positive result for his team.[LNB]He said: "It was a point gained. At 2-0 up you want to go on to win the game, of course you do, but the performance and all that was more important to me, almost more than the result.[LNB]"It was really important we put in that sort of performance, so I'm pleased with that.[LNB]"Hibs are playing in a way that they are getting the breaks and forcing the breaks, and you do that when you're playing with confidence and the sort of tempo they're playing at.[LNB]"For me, with Michael Paton in the first half, it was a blatant penalty, he was tugged back and we don't get it.[LNB]"At the moment we're not getting those decisions but that's the way it goes.[LNB]"Hibs are forcing the breaks because of their momentum and their attitude towards it at the moment. We've got to bring a wee bit of that into our team."[LNB][LNB]
