JACK Ross last night backed Hibernian striker Kevin Nisbet to bounce back from the extra-time penalty miss that allowed Hearts to win the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final.
Nisbet had a chance to put the Easer Road club 2-1 ahead against their Tynecastle rivals after Mihai Popescu had brought down Joe Newell inside his own area.
However, his spot kick hit the junction between the crossbar and the post - and Liam Boyce netted from 12 yards out for Robbie Neilson’s side just five minutes later.
Ross praised the bravery of the 23-year-old for accepting responsibility for the penalty and insisted the forward would recover from the disappointment quickly.
“First of all he has got the courage to take the penalty as a young man,” he said. “I can’t complain about how he strikes the ball. Obviously, there is too much elevation on it.
“Kevin has had a challenging period personally and he has come through that, he has worked his way through that. That is testament to his character as a young man as well.
“It is my job right now to help him through that. But what he needs to do is find the drive to put himself in that type of position again and make sure he comes out the right side of it. He will be okay.
“He will be sore right now, but he will be okay and he will be ready to go once the next game comes around.”
Ross, whose side levelled through Christian Doidge after Craig Wighton had opened the scoring in the second-half, was proud of how Hibs performed during the 120 minutes.
“Right now, the gut-wrenching feeling is there,” he said. “It happens in football. But it only happens if you put yourself in a position to achieve success.
“You can tread water and never be in these type of positions. But when you get hurt and are sore you have two choices – you can either fold or you can get motivated to be in these type of positions again and that’s what we want to do.
“We have got two cup competitions that we have opportunities to win and we have a league that we have started well in and we want to continue in that vein.”
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