Lee Johnson 'super disappointed' with Hibs start as manager gives his take on penalty call

Lee Johnson believes a dreadful first-half performance effectively cost Hibs three points from their opening day match with St Mirren.

Alex Grieve won it for the visitors in the 89th minute despite Hibs seemingly having all the moment after Adam Le Fondre and Christian Doidge erased a 2-0 half-time deficit, which St Mirren built thanks to a Mark O’Hara penalty and goal from Toyosi Olusanya inside 17 minutes.

The sluggish start was produced by the 10 outfield players who started in the 6-1 in over Andorran side Inter Club d'Escaldes in midweek. Johnson admits that may have been an error on his part, but was still frustrated with the performance of his players.

“I’m super disappointed with the start,” said Johnson. “If we’re going to compete in all competitions we have got to be able to play Thursday-Sunday-Thursday-Sunday.

Hibs manager Lee Johnson with assistant boss Jamie McAllister during the loss to St Mirren at Easter Road. Picture: SNS

“I obviously named the same starting eleven, which is fair to be thrown at me, if you like. But I feel individually the boys have a responsibility to be at their best physically and mentally. I don’t think it was a fitness thing because you saw us take over in the second half.

“ had to change it and I don’t like changing it, I suppose it is an admission of getting it wrong or individuals not producing like we need to.

“We got back in the game then we give away a really poor goal. If you set that up 100 times in training with the correct defensive protocol and everyone doing their job properly there’s no way that goal is scored.”

Hibs went behind from the penalty spot after Greg Kiltie was adjudged to have been fouled by Joe Newell following a VAR check. Though many in the home end thought it was soft, Johnson had little interest in lambasting the official.

“I've no complaints about the penalty,” he said. “You could say it's soft but we had three or four opportunities to clear that phase in the right-back area.

"Joe dangled a leg and he has caught him probably on the bottom of the stud and that's been enough to take him over. Albeit very light contact, there is an element of contact and it may have knocked the player off track. If not, then he's been very clever to go down.”