Dwight Gayle believes there's a lack of accountability among Hibs' faltering squad as they slipped to the bottom of the Scottish Premiership.

Leading 2-1 heading into stoppage time at Tannadice on Saturday, David Gray's side suddenly and spectacularly imploded, opening the door for two Dundee United goals and a third consecutive league defeat. Gayle, who notched his first for Hibs to put them ahead, feels they were too easily rattled by captain Joe Newell's 85th minute sending off. He believes they're doing enough to 'dig each other out' of trouble, and suggested it's time for home truths to be shared in a deflated dressing room.

"I felt like we were in a strong position," said the 34-year-old. "But we're getting very nervous going into the end of the game because of the results previously. And then going down to 10 men, we're obviously sitting back and allowing balls into the box and we weren't able to deal with it at the end. So it's just really frustrating. We've gone into the changing room afterwards and everyone's obviously really disappointed, but ultimately it's down to ourselves and we just thought it would be a lot better. We need to stick together.

"We're discussing what we need to do and I think we've got to hold ourselves a lot more accountable. I feel like we're not digging each other out enough. Maybe we're all too nice to each other, but each week someone else is letting the team down. Other teams are not really cutting us open, and we're letting ourselves down, giving easy goals away, or not finishing chances off. It's costing us."

As one of the most experienced in that dressing room, Gayle says he can shoulder the responsibility of trying to show others the way out of a tough period that has seen the fan anger that spilled over at the end of last season start to simmer once more. Next up is an Edinburgh derby clash with Hearts at Easter Road, and the stakes couldn't be higher with the two sides currently propping up the top-flight.

"We need to dig in and help each other out and try to lead by example," said Gayle. "Obviously, I'm one of those senior players and there's a few others in the dressing room that are going to have to step up and try to help the team. The derby next week, I'm sure everyone's going to be up for it even more. It should be for every game, but we know how much it means to the fans and the atmosphere is going to be frantic. It's even more important for us to try to see out the game if we do get the lead, be solid at the back and finish our chances when we get them. It's obviously something to look forward to and one we can pay the fans back."

Having found themselves firmly in the trenches even at this early stage of the campaign, Gayle suspects Hibs would benefit from a back-to-basics approach. Soft goals conceded and a failure to convert chances has been a theme of the first eight matches, with Hibs consistently failing to work the game's most important moments in their favour. And Gayle fears that will continue unless they learn how to grind out results.

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"It's been really frustrating," added Gayle. "Obviously, some of the performances have been OK recently in terms of creating chances, but we haven't been able to put it to bed and then we've given away some silly goals. But we can't keep saying this sort of thing.

"We need to start putting points on the board and start being a bit more solid. We might have to keep clean sheets and win 1-0. I don't think we've done that enough. We're trying to outscore teams or allow teams to get goals against us too easily. I think we might have to be a bit more solid and it'll be more difficult to beat."