Can you all look at yourselves in the mirror today after a display like that?

A STUNNED Franck Sauzee today refused to take the easy option of laying the blame for Hibs’ shock CIS Cup exit at the feet of blundering assistant referee Gordon McBride - instead turning his anger on his Hampden flops, describing them as "a ghost team".

Sauzee challenged each and every one of them, with the words: "Can you look at yourself in the mirror this morning?"

It was on the advice of his assistant that referee Mike McCurry awarded the controversial extra-time penalty which decided this semi-final and ended Hibs’ dream of facing old boss Alex McLeish’s Rangers in next month’s final.

Even Ayr United manager Gordon Dalziel admitted the award came into the "soft" category as John Robertson, who appeared to have handled the ball, went down with Ian Murray in close attendance.

Contact, if any, appeared minimal, but McBride was in no doubt, indicating to the unsighted McCurry that it was, in his view at least, a spot-kick - one which was superbly converted by Eddie Annand to give the Somerset Park outfit their first major final in their 98-year history.

Hibs and their fans may have been left raging at the decision, but Sauzee’s ire was directed at his own players who had failed him abysmally over the preceding

120 minutes.

He would have been right to question if it was the same team - the only change being the return of skipper John O’Neil after injury - which had earned some murmurs of approval following their performance against Celtic just a few days earlier.

As Murray himself, still protesting his innocence, agreed afterwards, it is as if Hibs have two teams at the moment, one capable of taking on and matching the Old Firm and Hearts and another which wouldn’t be out of place in the First Division where former Easter Road stars such as John Hughes, Pat McGinlay and Paul Lovering now ply their trade.

It was those three as much as anyone in the Ayr ranks who showed the present incumbents of a green and white shirt the kind of passion a semi-final at Hampden should invoke.

Yogi was immense at the back, McGinlay burst into the penalty area with those lung-bursting runs which made him such a favourite at Easter Road while Lovering was, as ever, tenacious and totally committed in the tackle as he shackled Ulises de la Cruz.

Hibs were a poor shadow of the side which surprised Celtic, a brief flurry at the start of the match in which Grant Brebner and David Zitelli, currently playing as if he knows his days are numbered, missed chances soon giving way to a level of performance which simply won’t do - either for Sauzee or the fans who have shown such loyalty this season only to have been kicked in the teeth at virtually every turn.

As Hibs toiled, Ayr’s tactics paid off a treat on a dreadful pitch, the ploy being to get the ball down the channels for the ever-willing Annand and James Grady to chase with the midfield coming up quickly in support of the second ball.

In contrast, Hibs were pedestrian, lacking in imagination and as a result were forced to play in front of the Ayr defence which contained too much experience for 18-year-old Garry O’Connor and too much commitment for Zitelli and his replacement, Eduardo Hurtado, who looked just as ineffective as the Frenchman.

Having said that, it was McBride’s intervention on which the match turned, the stalemate having been such that it looked as if a penalty shoot-out would end a boring match played in front of a crowd of under 12,000 in a ghost-like atmosphere as the Hibs fans sensed the worst.

Sauzee, though, was having none of it when asked about the defining moment, saying: "It was not a problem, we did not deserve to win.

"I don’t want to put my finger on the referee, I do not care about that. We did not play well enough. How many chances did we have? Two, at the start of the game."

And again Sauzee, who had attacked his players after they went down 4-3 at home to Aberdeen, a game in which, incidentally Murray was guilty of conceding another late penalty, questioned the Easter Road stars’ self-esteem and pride.

Clearly struggling to keep his fury under control, Sauzee launched into a withering condemnation of his players, questioning if some of them had what it took to play in the Premier League.

When asked if he thought some of them weren’t good enough, Sauzee snapped: "They gave an answer tonight."

He went on: "It was unbelievable for me. We played very well against Celtic, our minds, our determination was absolutely tremendous. Tonight I didn’t see one player on the pitch. Football isn’t just one game. Perhaps our players feel it is enough to play against Celtic and Rangers and Hearts because it is a derby.

"Okay, we lost the semi-final but we are second bottom of the league and that means that from the start of the season we have not been doing very well.

"If I was a player I would wonder if I was good enough to play in the Premier League. I have some international players in the team - but where were they tonight?"

It was Sauzee’s 13th match in charge of Hibs and with only a single victory, over Second Division Stranraer at home, it is no wonder the French ace has now lost all patience with his players.

Only last week they jumped to his defence when his future was questioned, their performance against Celtic appearing to have shown they are fully behind him. Undoubtedly that remains the case, but it is feckless, inept displays like this which spark whispering campaigns such as the one which irked everyone at Easter Road only a few days ago.

Citing the example of Yogi, who, Sauzee pointed out, is 38, the Hibs boss went on: "For me, I did not see a game. I thought it was a ghost team and it is very hard for me to understand this attitude. I cannot believe it, I am absolutely upset about some players.

"There is not the mentality I want to see in my players. I want to see 11 players on the pitch work hard and I cannot believe the way we played.

"I hold huge esteem for Ayr. There was Yogi, at 38, who won all the battles on the pitch against my players.

"I just want to ask my players if they have enough self-esteem, if they are able to look at themselves in the mirror."

Sauzee made it clear he wasn’t saying anything which he hadn’t told his players, as he indicated that some Easter Road careers are rapidly coming to an end.

He said: "I’ve told them exactly what I have told you. I will make my own decisions about the team, no problem at all.

"Sometimes in football you lose, of course. I can accept that - but how we lost this one? Definitely not."

Taken from the Scotsman