Lee Johnson demands improvement after ‘naivety’ from Hibernian subs

Hibernian manager Lee Johnson said his players will need to raise their standards on and off the pitch if the team is to emerge from its current slump.

Saturday’s defeat to St Mirren was a fourth game in a row without a victory and leaves the Easter Road side languishing in the bottom half of the table.

Hibs assistant manager Jamie McAllister verbally blasted the team’s substitutes late in the game for not being ready to come on and Johnson felt that “naivety” from the squad was unacceptable.

He said: “It was about not being ready. Surely as a player you are looking at a clock knowing you might go on? What have you got to have ready?

“Shinpads have got to be on, shirt’s got to be on because there is five minutes left plus injury time. It is a naivety there to not be ready.

“You can quickly get a player on, particularly if they are a tall player – the exact situation was a wide free-kick outside the box.

“We wanted to get Lewis Miller on and he’s not got his shinpads on, boots tied up or shirt on. He is 6ft 2in and a powerhouse. I’m not talking bad of him, it’s just naivety. They’ve got to learn their lessons quickly because things change quickly in games.”

Meanwhile, St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson hoped clubs would not come sniffing around any of his players ahead of the transfer deadline.

The window closes on Thursday, with Saints likely to be sellers rather than buyers after Robinson spent his budget.

He said: “We’re one of the smaller clubs in the division so you’re always at the mercy of bigger clubs with financial clout.

“We’ve got targets and different brackets depending if we get bids but I don’t want anyone to leave the club and don’t have a real desire to bring anyone in. But that can change if someone does go out.”

Robinson also praised the St Mirren fans for their backing in Saturday’s win, a third in a row for the Paisley side.

He added: “If you’re sitting in the stand and you’ve paid your money, you see people giving everything for the badge, it’s all you can ask for.

“You can see how everyone got behind us and willed us over the line. I wish they’d sucked the ball into the net a bit earlier and we could’ve relaxed a bit more. Together we can achieve good things as a team and a crowd.”