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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Darren Johnstone

Hibs ready to dish out 'pasting' insists Johnson as he targets ruthless display

LEE JOHNSON insists Hibs are ready to mete out a ‘pasting’ despite admitting that his team need to be more ruthless in front of goal.

The Leith side lost 2-1 at home to St Johnstone last Friday after taking the lead through Myko Kukharevych.

Hibs midfielder Kyle Magennis’ second half sending off proved costly as Saints scored through Nicky Clark and Stevie May.

Hibs have also suffered defeats to Dundee United and Celtic amid a three game losing run but manager Johnson insists they should have picked up at least something, having also created several good chances at Tannadice.

And Johnson, whose side host St Mirren on Saturday, is adamant there will be a game in the near future when it all clicks.

He said: “It’s three defeats in a row but I think in two of the games we’ve played well for the majority of the game. 

“Dundee United away, created numerous chances, against St Johnstone against numerous chances and were in control. 

"At 1-0 up you need to kill a team off.

“The longer you go without scoring the longer you become susceptible to a sucker punch and we got done by the sucker punch on Friday .

“We can’t seem to kill teams off and that’s happened too many times this year; that’ll end up being the difference in where we finish this season.

“I also think someone will be on the end of a pasting at some point when everything falls for us.”

Johnson is in his first season as Hibs boss after taking on the reins during the summer and admits he is not satisfied with where they are in the Premiership.

After 12 games, Hibs are sitting fifth in the table with 17 points.

Johnson added: “We’re 12 games in and experienced the league. 

“There’s a lot of points on offer, we’re in an okay position in the league, but we’d like to have more points on the board. 

“It’ll be tight for the rest of the season, and we have to maintain our confidence. We know what we need to improve.”

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