Nick Montgomery insists Hibs deserved Celtic draw and explains why it was 'good to coach against Brendan Rodgers'

Early in the second half Nick Montgomery watched Jordan Obita flash a ball across the face of goal and, as Martin Boyle slid in to meet it, the Hibs boss thought it would be the moment the game would turn in his side’s favour.

Hibs manager Nick Montgomery encourages his players during the goalless draw with Celtic. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

But just like the James Forrest effort that clipped the bar at the other end, it wasn’t to be and both teams were forced to settle for a share of the spoils.

“Yeah, it was probably the best chance of the game,” said Montgomery of Hibs’ 51st minute chance. “It was a fantastic cross from Jordan and nine times out of 10 Boyley scores that. He maybe anticipated that was going to bounce instead of catching it full on. If he catches it full on then it is the back of the net.

“He will be disappointed with that but a draw is a fair result against a top class team and a coach in Brendan Rodgers who I have followed for a long time. I played against his teams and they were always good footballing teams who liked to keep the ball and dominate with the ball. So, it was good to coach against him today. They are a very exciting team with a lot of quality.”

Up against it in the closing stages, there will have been a greater sense of relief in the home dressing room as they rediscovered the defensive resolve that had deserted them at Ibrox last weekend.

“Last week we had a disappointing result, we didn’t do well in transition moments. The difference today was we all defended really well and as a team. That is why we came out with a clean sheet and a point against arguably the best team in the competition.

“I am extremely proud of the effort the boys put in against a team that went toe to toe with Atletico Madrid in midweek. I watched that game and thought they were excellent. I thought today we contained a lot of their threats and were resolute when we needed to be.

“In terms of us attacking, I thought we had the best chance of the game, other than Celtic hitting the crossbar when Lewis [Miller], who had a fantastic game, got caught out at the front post.

“I cannot fault the boys’ effort. I thought they were brave and courageous.”

Having cut out some of the slackness that offered Celtic hope in the opening 45 minutes, they improved after the break and held firm as the reigning league champions pushed for victory.

“We fixed a few problems from the first half. We weren’t quite seeing the pictures. But I have nothing but praise for them, it is not easy containing a team of that quality. I thought we did that really well. There were a couple of moments where we could have chosen a better option but limiting them to four shots on target shows how well we did because they are very, very good.

“It is still a work in progress. I’m six, seven games in and we’ve shown some great improvement.

“Towards the end they took off six quality players and put six quality players on so we needed to be concentrating for the full game and I thought we did that.”