Hibs boss Jack Ross speaks on penalty-taker situation and rough treatment of Martin Boyle in Scottish Cup triumph

Paul Hanlon's penalty was saved by Mark Ridgers. Pic: SNS

Hibs head coach Jack Ross insisted he wasn’t going to get uptight over the issue of three successive missed penalties after the Hibees spurned another chance from 12 yards in the 5-2 victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Goals from Adam Jackson, Scott Allan, Greg Docherty, Stephane Omeonga and Jamie Gullan secured Hibs' passage into the Scottish Cup semi-finals for the fourth time in six years, but they missed another penalty when Paul Hanlon's effort on 30 minutes was saved by Mark Ridgers.

However, Ross defended Paul Hanlon’s decision to take the latest award despite team-mates Marc McNulty clearly wanting to take it.

He said: ‘I’ve always been relaxed about it as a manager. Maybe I shouldn’t be because we’ve missed three in a row.

“You have to feel good about it on the park at the time. The three who have taken them have felt good.

“Paul is a good footballer, technically very good, better than most in the squad when it comes to striking the ball.

“I don’t hold with this idea that a defender shouldn’t take a penalty.

“We’re just going through one of those periods. Hopefully we score one soon and put it to bed.

“I genuinely didn’t see them arguing about it. We’ve got players who are hungry for success.

“We’re creating a lot and scoring a lot. The variety of scorers helps, the quality of the goals was good.”

Ross saw Martin Boyle, who came in for some heavy treatment from the Caley players, booked for a first-half dive as he went down as he rounded Ridgers and insisted it should have been a penalty.

He said: “I didn’t agree with it. In real time I thought it was a certain penalty. I was astonished.

“I’ve seen it. I don’t think it’s inconclusive. I still think it’s a penalty.. He won’t go down when he can score a goal.

“It’s a big call to make but thankfully didn’t make a big difference.

“I thought the first tackle on Boyle wasn’t great. The first one that resulted in a caution. It wasn’t a good challenge.

“The other ones, not ideal, but he travels with such pace with the ball, they’re not malicious, just trying to stop him. He’s that type of player, he has such speed and balance.”