'We got it wrong': Hibs refuse to sugar-coat wretched performance and won't resort to being direct

Obita knows Hibs have to improve despite finding it hard against stuffy teams

There was no sugar-coating Hibs’ inept display in losing 1-0 to St Johnstone on Saturday. They were miles off it against a well-drilled and resolute Saints team, who are improving steadily under their new manager Craig Levein. “It was probably one of our worst games,” admitted Hibs left-back Jordan Obita. “We try to be 100 per cent every single week but sometimes you get it wrong and today we got it wrong.”

Graham Carey’s 57th-minute goal was the difference in a poor match overall on a firm, lively pitch in blustery conditions. The winner came from a Hibs mistake, the usually dependable Dylan Levitt firing a terrible pass from a goal kick straight to Carey, who strode forward and blasted home with the aid of the post. Hibs keeper David Marshall made three goods saves to keep the score down, with Hibs’ forward line completely ineffective. They are now sixth in the Premiership, with Saints up to eighth.

Hibs toiled throughout in Perth to break down St Johnstone, whose back-five were disciplined and won all of their individual duels. “This is my first season here and it seems like most team here wait for their opportunity and if they get the goal they defend for their lives,” Obita, a summer signing from Wycombe, continued. “It's very difficult for teams who want to try and play football to get an equaliser or get ahead. It does make it difficult but I feel like our team should have enough quality to try and put it right.

The Hibs players knew their display against St Johnstone was nowhere near good enough.

"We are a possession-based team. If a team do press up then we need to look for the ball in behind. But we are not that sort of team who are going to play direct. It's that time of the year that some of the games aren't going to be pretty and the pitches aren't great. But we still back ourselves to try and play good football and play the way the gaffer wants us to play.”

There is now genuine momentum for St Johnstone. “We just take it week by week and game by game,” said Carey. “Since the manager has come in, we have progressed really well and we have started to play some really good football and we are difficult to beat. We just need to take it game by game. There is a lot of improvement left in the team.”