Warren O'Hora admits facing a full-tilt Celtic was an eye-opener as he gets to grips with Scottish football - but says Hibs shouldn't be ruled out of springing a surprise at Parkhead next week.

David Gray's side went down 2-0 to the Premiership champions on Sunday, struggling to lay a glove on their visitors at Easter Road. Goals from Nicholas Kuhn and Callum McGregor effectively sealed Celtic the points inside 20 minutes, consigning Hibs to a second consecutive defeat in the new Premiership season.

The teams will meet again at Celtic Park on Sunday in the last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup, and despite what was a fairly comprehensive defeat, O'Hora - a summer signing after leaving MK Dons - believes Hibs can take some heart from a more competitive second-half display.

"The speed, the physicality is definitely different and something that we have to get up to, and me personally, I have to get up to," said the Irish centre-back. "That's why I've come to this club and that's why I've come to this league, because I want to play the best in this league, I want to play the best in this country, and I want this club to be up there with teams like that and that's what we're excelling to be. Yeah, look, it's an eye opener, but I felt like we did well enough in the second half to maybe nick a goal and maybe nick something out the game. But look, it didn't go that way for us and there's a cup game on Sunday against them away at Celtic Park, so anything can happen."

Head coach David Gray suggested afterwards that Hibs may have to endure some 'short-term pain for long-term gain', and O'Hora agrees. The 25-year-old is one of eight summer signings so far, and more are expected to arrive before the transfer window closes. And while he feels Hibs are still in a period of transition, O'Hora concedes that they have not been good enough in the 'critical moments' in their opening two league fixtures. If they're going to stand a fighting chance in Glasgow this coming weekend, the defender knows that has to change quickly.

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"Yeah, it's a process. It's all new," he said. "We are a new enough squad, we have brought in some boys. The gaffer has been brilliant with me personally, he's been brilliant with all the new boys, no doubt about it, and in training he's working hard with us. It's just the crucial moments on the pitch that we let ourselves down. Look, the second goal we are not tight enough and it goes in the top corner. You kind of put your hands up and say we need to be tighter. But to concede the first goal so early against them lot, it's an uphill battle. It's short term pain, no doubt about it. We'll sleep on it, we'll analyse what went wrong, what went right and then we'll work on it and try and put it right on Sunday."