Nick Montgomery answers question on his Hibs future and asks for one thing as fan frustrations mount

The Hibs boss oversaw a difficult afternoon as Aberdeen put his men to the sword.

Nick Montgomery has called for some patience after the Hibs boss watched his team suffer a 4-0 defeat by Aberdeen at Easter Road.

The hosts started brightly but the roof caved in when Leighton Clarkson curled home the opener. Then Dante Polvara, Bojan Miovski and Fletcher Boyd all netted to compound a miserable day as the rain ironically poured on a weekend of sunshine in the capital.

Apathy set in from the stands during the game but fans remaining inside Easter Road come full-time let the boss and players know what they though of the display. Hibs are in ninth ahead of two final matches with Motherwell and Livingston before the season comes to a close.

Hibs have won nine of their last 32 leagues games. Speaking post-match, Montgomery answered a question on whether he expected to see out the season, and insisted patience is needed. He said: “I hope so. Unless anything’s changed. The discussions I had coming into the club, they knew the challenge we had this season.

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“The big picture was the investment coming in from Black Knight moving forward, the opportunity to put your own squad together which every manager wants to do.

“I keep saying we need four or five players, we need quality in the building. There are players moving on who are out of contract. There is definite change coming and we need a little bit of patience.”

Club chiefs have already slammed the bottom six finish this season as ‘unacceptable’ and a ‘comprehensive evaluation of the entire football operation’ will commence. That is in conjunction with the Black Knight Football Club amid Bill Foley’s investment into the Easter Road outfit.

There was also a protest launched by Hibs ultras at the end of the game. As Easter Road emptied, the fed-up fans in the East Stand had talks with the security officer but sat in protest of what they have watched this season.

Fans are showing their frustration but Montgomery remains steadfast in his belief. He explained: “I remain confident. I believe in myself and in the direction I feel I can take the club. Those were the discussions we had when I took the job.

“Of course, my worry was managers have changed numerous times. But the board were really supportive. I have had one January transfer window. I tried to bring in players to improve the squad and felt like we did.

“But with a summer transfer window coming up and the chance to bring in players on permanent contracts and have a good pre-season, which is really important to build a culture and environment, I believe in myself. But results like today don’t help because there has been a lot of frustration and negativity around the club for a long time. I have said we need a bit of patience now. Change is difficult and uncomfortable.

“But today’s result was difficult for everyone because you don’t want to be losing at home and conceding the goals we did. That’s also because we don’t punish teams when we have chances and we had plenty of chances today.

“The expectation on this club and the pressure from the fans is normal. Moving forward we need players who can accept that pressure and expectation. I understand their frustration. It was an embarrassing result for us at home. For 30 minutes we were good enough to be a goal or two ahead. They’ve seen it too many times, they’ve had to much frustration over recent seasons.

“I can say no doubt that it’s just as frustrating for me. We cant change the result now. We have to move on to Wednesday and try to put it right.”

Motherwell are the challenge on Wednesday. Montgomery added: “It was a difficult afternoon. There have been some difficult moments this season but that was real tough one. I thought for 30 minutes we had all the play, we had numerous box entries, shots on target, all the momentum, and then they have one shot and we concede.

“That's happened too many times this season and then from that moment, we have a second shot on target conceded and we are 2-0 down. That's really disappointing and frustrating.

“It was deflating for the players and the fans because they turned up today and I thought they got behind the team. But from 30 minutes on the players are frustrated and deflated. I said at half time we need to get the first goal back. We've had a one-on-one with Myziane and we've had a couple of chances where we possibly could have scored but we didn't, but then on the counter attack we got punished twice.

“That's how the game went and anyone watching the game would have seen that. Because of that, there's going to be a lot of frustration. It's a game that we wanted to win. There are two games to go and we just have to move on now and try to get a win on Wednesday.”