Nick Montgomery is fully focused on rediscovering the form that he enjoyed during his first few weeks as Hibs boss, but insists the club is heading in the right direction in the long term.

The Easter Road boss was quizzed about Saturday’s hapless performance in the 3-0 home defeat by St Mirren as he previewed the midweek clash with Celtic, and said hard work was underway to rectify what went wrong.

“There is full acceptance from ourselves, and the players that the first half wasn’t good enough. We accepted that and we move on,” he said. “Being honest, there had been a lot of changes, a lot of new players coming into the club. After one or two days of training, it’s expecting a lot of them. But everyone arrived feeling optimistic.

“We conceded three goals from set pieces, or the second phase of a set piece. New players coming in take time to gel and to get used to the principles of how we work.

“I understand the expectations of the club and the fans. I obviously felt their frustration at the weekend. I understand the frustration of the fans because no one was more frustrated with the result than me. We’re working hard to rectify the things that went wrong.

“Now is the time to stand strong; we’ve got boys coming back from international duty giving us a real boost, and the new boys coming in now understand how we work a bit better, tactically.

“Pressure comes with any job, especially at a club like Hibs. I accepted the challenge when I took the job, knowing there would be a rebuild going on.

“But change takes a bit of time, it’s not easy, and we’re in a bit of transition. The squad is starting to look stronger moving forward.

“I know where the club is heading in the big picture. But right now I understand the need to get a bit of form back.”

Meanwhile, the Hibs head coach expressed his delight at having Martin Boyle and Lewis Miller available once again while admitting the latter has needed a bit of an ‘arm around the shoulder’ after giving away a penalty in Australia’s 2-1 defeat by South Korea in the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup.

“If you know anything about Martin Boyle and Lewis Miller, you’ll know they just want to get back playing football. Martin has scored his first goal at a major tournament, he’s been away for six weeks, so you want someone like him back in the team,” Montgomery said.

“Lewis has been a starting player who has had a real quick acceleration in the international team. When I came here, he wasn’t in the Hibs team, he became a regular and got himself into the international set-up. A lot has happened to him in the space of six months.

“It was a really difficult moment for Lewis. Anybody who knows the history of the game knows that, in big moments, players can make mistakes.

“Lewis is a great kid, he does have confidence. But that’s going to affect anybody. The most important thing is that we’ve given him our support since he came back.

“We’ve got good people at the club. I’ve spent time talking to Lewis and putting my arm around him, because he really has to move forward now.

“Everybody makes mistakes. He’s still a young player, nobody is more disappointed than Lewis with what happened, but he’s back here now with the boys who love him and support him.”

In other team news, Paul Hanlon could miss out again through illness while Chris Cadden is unlikely to be thrown in from the start. Both Boyle and Miller will make the squad having returned from international duty.