Hibs 'lacked usual quality' admits Jack Ross after Celtic defeat

Jack Ross saw his side fail to register a single shot on target at Celtic Park

Hibs boss Jack Ross admitted the Easter Road side lacked their usual level of quality in the final third of the pitch after watching his side lose 2-0 away to Celtic.

Goals in either half from Jeremie Frimpong and Odsonne Edouard were enough to earn Neil Lennon's players all three points, moving them back to the summit of the Ladbrokes Premiership, while Hibs remain in sixth place.

The visitors didn't register one shot on target in the 90 minutes and Ross said: "The one thing we back ourselves on is the quality we have in the final third. We mentioned at half-time that we'd got into good areas at times, but we maybe lacked the level of quality we normally have.

"These are the fine margins you need to have when you come to places like this. The one thing I said to the players was that we don't want to have a mindset that we are happy to come to these places, get a pat on the back and say we were competitive but lost the game.

"I felt we did remain competitive playing against a good team which, I thought, was at it as well. They played well, which meant we had to play reasonably well to try to stay in the game and we did that."

Ross' attention has now turned to Friday night's visit from Rangers, who hammered Hibs 6-1 at Ibrox earlier in the season when Paul Heckingbottom was head coach. Ross, however, insisted the upcoming game will be an entirely different affair.

He said: "We knew coming into these to fixtures how challenging they would be because both teams have been relentless this season, so consistent, not just getting results but playing well.

"The dynamics on Friday will be different. We are at home. It will be a difficult match, but if we do certain elements of the game better then we have a strong belief we can win the match because over the last five or six games we have done more good things than bad things."