Hibs haven't been good enough admits Lee Johnson as Premier Sports Cup hopes hang by a thread

Lee Johnson admitted his Hibs side haven’t been good enough in the two Premier Sports Cup games they have failed to win.

A 1-0 defeat by Falkirk last week and Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw and subsequent penalty shoot-out defeat by Morton has left the Easter Road side with the slimmest of chances of progression to the knockout stages

Speaking after Hibs were booed off the park by disgruntled supporters, Johnson insisted the players and staff ‘appreciated and understood’ the expectations.

"Everybody is disappointed and there's nobody more disappointed than us,” he said.

Lee Johnson watchers on as Hibs struggle against Morton

"We've got a very small lifeline in terms of Clyde beating Falkirk but it hasn't been good enough in the two games that we haven't won.

"We controlled a lot of the game against Morton without actually producing that bit of quality, or three or four bits of quality in the final third.

"The game became bitty and it played into Morton’s hands – credit to them, because they put their bodies on the line, they hustled, and we let them off the hook too many times.”

Johnson felt a number of factors contributed to his side failing to find a winner in the final 15 minutes.

"I thought after Ewan scored we had the momentum but there were a lot of things that went against us – the amount of injuries, the referee, no fourth official which I found really strange, and all of that made for a slow tempo,” he added.

"It's game-management from the opposition and we've got to credit them for that. When we did get forward we had to be ruthless and go for the jugular and have four or five players running in and not just one who’s five yards away from the ball."

The Hibs boss remains hopeful of adding to his team and is anticipating the return from injury of several players before the league campaign begins.

"We have a few players due to come back, and hopefully another one or two recruited,” he said.

"In ten days we've got to be really strong going into the first game of the season [against St Johnstone].

"We are two work permits shy, a couple of 90 minutes that we're chasing in certain players but overall I think we can be really competitive in the first game.”