'Heartbroken' O'Hora defends Hibs' mentality

Fri, August 28, 2026 at 5:12 PM UTC

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Warren O'Hora has denied Hibs have a mentality issue after their "very cruel" Conference League exit to Gent.

David Gray's side blew 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 giving the Belgians a 3-2 aggregate victory.

"Football is very cruel at times," said defender 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, though, defended his side's mentality and said: "I don't think that's in question, to be honest.

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"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.

"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. 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."

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Source: “AOL Sports”