Lee Johnson has branded Hibs as 'naive' and says next weekend's derby with Hearts is like a 'cup final.
Johnson's men went close in the first ten minutes through Kevin Nisbet who agonisingly watched his strike go wide. Moments later it was former Hibs man Steven Fletcher who stung his old side with a nice header in to the corner. Hibs could not mount a decent first half comeback and in the second period, United looked the more likely with Fletcher missing a big chance.
Hibs huffed and puffed and eventually blew the house down when substitute Mykola Kukharevych chested down and fired in a top finish to bring the game level. Nisbet then rattled the bar in what would have been a stunning winner. Hibs shot themselves in the foot when Will Fish clattered in to Fletcher and Jamie McGrath converted the spot-kick to deal Hibs a hammer blow.
READ MORE: Dundee United 2 Hibs 1 three things we learned as Lee Johnson's men suffer hammer blow loss
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Losing four on the bounce earned this response from Johnson as he previewed the Edinburgh derby by telling BBC Sportsound: “We’ve got to look at it as a bit of a cup final.
“Two games to remain top six and then we can fight out Europe on the back of that. It’s an opportunity, but also bigger than that in the fan’s eyes. We haven't beaten them in a long time, and we need to start beating them.”
He added: "It was a better technical performance than last week which was encouraging. I felt that in the defending third and middle third in the first half, we were good in terms of our build.
"Sometimes, a little bit too laboured or slow after they got the goal it was difficult though as they had something to hold on to.
"Second half we went two up top, more direct, and that caused them some problems. We scored a goal, and had momentum, but then as they were holding on when we had two very bad decisions in a row.
"A very naive attempt at a tackle in the box, and we’re 2-1 down. Unfortunately, if you look at both of their goals, that’s what you get when you have very young centre-halves. It’s being green, naive, isn’t it?
We should have come out with a point minimum."
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