Lee Johnson instructs Hibs to get dirtier as he reveals what he would have done with Rangers star's headband

Hibs boss Lee Johnson has called on his team to master the “dark arts” following the 3-1 home loss to Rangers.

Hibs boss Lee Johnson during the club's Premiership clash with Rangers. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

The Hibees fell behind from a James Tavernier free-kick which caught out David Marshall. Johnson questioned the decision by Alan Muir to award the free-kick in the first place for CJ Egan-Riley's challenge on Todd Cantwell and admitted he’d have pulled the Rangers star’s headband off his head.

“First half, we were well in the game and were countering really well,” he said. “They had more technical quality than us and it gives them the chance to overload the centre of the pitch but when we won it, we had really good opportunities to go and be dangerous and occasionally we were dangerous. If you put together a set of highlights for Hibs today, you’d see decent chances but in the context of the game, Rangers had a little bit more control than we’d like.

“We didn’t think it was a foul. It’s a very soft one - CJ put himself between Cantwell and the ball when he chopped inside and that was good defending. But the referee wanted to give those all day and was very quick to blow the whistle for that one."

He added: "We've had seven games against the Old Firm and only taken a point. To take more, we have to recruit and develop better. We're trying to drive the club forward. The dirty winner in me wants to do more. I'd have pulled Cantwell's headband straight off the back of his head, but I'm not a player anymore! I want us to commit and be good at the dark arts and have quality play. We do show that. But this team has got to get better, get more confident and slick. It will. But the frustration for me is that I want it yesterday."

Johnson noted it is “an important time for us over the next four days” as they face Celtic at Easter Road before a trip to Hearts in their bid to get European football.

"There needs to be another evolution of our squad,” he said. “We're not going to settle. We want to build and hold onto the core but some players have got to do more or they move on.”