Nick Montgomery launches staunch Hibs form defence as boss reveals reason behind wretched run

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Nick Montgomery has launched a passionate defence of his Hibs team despite their poor run of results and argues that injuries and the number of new faces who arrived in January have made things difficult.The 2-1 home defeat to Celtic on Wednesday night has left the Leith club without a win in their last seven Premiership matches, with the Hibees sitting in seventh place, a staggering 22 points behind Edinburgh rivals Hearts in third.

Sections of the fanbase at Easter Road have now turned against Montgomery, who only succeeded previous boss Lee Johnson back in September.But the 42-year-old is adamant that things will improve and points to his side's display in the loss to Celtic as the catalyst for an upturn in results.

Speaking to the media ahead of Hibs' trip to the Highlands to face Inverness in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup tomorrow, he said: "I know the team can produce top performances. "I have said for six weeks, it's not an excuse, but I lost my first game at home against Hearts, we missed a penalty and were probably the better team and lost with the last kick of the game."After that we lost Josh Campbell to long-term injury list, to add to the other four or five and lost four boys - who were starting - to international duty.

That's half your team. "It's been a challenging six weeks but when I step back, we are through to the next round of the cup.