Hibernian manager John Hughes watched his three strikers claim six goals between them at Fir Park but pointed the finger at them for letting Motherwell claw back a four-goal deficit to snatch an incredible 6-6 draw.
Hibs were seemingly coasting when an Anthony Stokes double put them 6-2 up with 25 minutes remaining, after Colin Nish had struck a first-half hat-trick and Derek Riordan notched, but Motherwell embarked on a memorable comeback with Giles Coke and John Sutton both netting their second goals with additions from Tom Hateley and Lukas Jutkiewicz.
Hughes said: "Everybody will say 'they can't defend'. I felt at 6-2 up my strikers stopped working. That's where you start defending, from the front. We stopped looking after it, stopped linking up, and it brought them on top of us."
He added: "We started sitting too deep, too deep. There were a few individual mistakes on top of that."
Hughes is struggling to turn around a run of form that has seen Hibs win just twice in 17 matches but he stressed they should be judged on the season as a whole.
The campaign will still be deemed a success if they qualify for Europe and they will do so if they better Motherwell's result at Ibrox on Sunday when they make the journey north to face Dundee United.
Motherwell manager Craig Brown believes his team have the advantage despite their tough test against Rangers.
"They have got a good opportunity but we have a tremendous opportunity," Brown said.
"Rangers have only lost three games but we showed against them here that we can compete, so we're capable of going there and getting something from the game, and hopefully it will be enough.
"We have Steve Jennings back because he was suspended and he is a major player for us."
Source: PA
