Hibs manager Nick Montgomery leapt to the defence of Dylan Levitt after the midfielder’s misplaced pass set up St Johnstone for their winning goal in a 1-0 Premiership defeat by St Johnstone.

In an error-strewn match, Graham Carey fired home the winner on 57 minutes when Levitt’s ball out following a goal kick went straight into the path of the Irishman, who drove forward and fired home via the post. Montgomery admitted his team’s performance was “disappointing” but did not throw Levitt under the bus for his moment of madness.

"I don't need to speak to Dylan,” said Montgomery when he was asked about Levitt. “It was a mistake, everybody makes mistakes. It was a genuine mistake. Dylan has been absolutely fantastic for me, an exceptional footballer, but he maybe slips or just doesn't catch the ball right. What's disappointing is that when we gave the ball away, we didn't react to cover and recover the mistake. But credit to them, it's a good strike, right in the corner, so it’s a difficult one for David Marshall. So there's no blame on anyone, it's a genuine mistake.”

Nick Montgomery applauds the Hibs fans after the 1-0 defeat at St Johnstone.

Montgomery was more irked by his team’s lack of creativity, with no shots of note. “It felt like we weren't going to score today and that's the most disappointing thing because when you look at the players we had on the pitch, we had a lot of attacking flair,” continued Montgomery. “Even with the subs that I made, they were very attacking. We just lacked a bit of creativity and we got done by a mistake.”

The manager, however, won’t be panicking about his team’s muted forward play. “I don’t think it’s something we look at strengthening,” Montgomery replied when asked if attack is an area of the team he may look to strengthen next month. “Players go through purple patches, spells where they score goals, and they go through spells when they don’t score or create chances. The disappointing thing is we got bodies forward – but they were resilient. We have to give credit to them. They cleared everything, fell on everything at the edge of the box. Sometimes that happens. That’s on us, that’s on me. We just get back on the training ground and continue to work as we do, win, lose or draw. We have to be better than we were today."

It was a far better day for St Johnstone manager Craig Levein, whose team are now up to eighth in the Premiership. “It was very pleasing,” the ex-Hearts boss said. “We’ve been doing things in training that Andy [Kirk, assistant coach] has been leading that we’ve shown glimpses of in previous games. Today we had quite a lot of control in the game which was important in making opportunities. We scored one but Marsh made four top, top saves. We scored one that was enough and defensively we were really good. It’s a pleasing night overall.”

Hibs reaction: Refusal to throw fall-guy Dylan Levitt under bus as Craig Levein revels in St Johnstone's win