I was asked on BBC Sportsound, in the aftermath of Hibs’ 2-2 draw with Aberdeen last weekend what my thoughts were on Nick Montgomery, and I had to admit that I'm struggling to make my mind up on him.

Looking purely at the statistics, he’s doing an awful job, really. The headline figure is no league wins since early December, and while it’s reasonable to point out that that spell includes the January break and two cup games that have been won to set up a quarter-final tie against Rangers, it still doesn't make for good reading. 

His last win came against bottom side Livingston; a gritty 1-0 win away to a team that Hibs have had plenty of slip-ups against over the years. It felt at that point that we might be on to something. Hibs had moved into fourth spot in the league, overtaking Hearts in the process. 

'It should be unthinkable that Hibs don't make top six'

Fast-forward to today, and Hibs sit in seventh spot, with nothing to separate us and Aberdeen, with Hearts a mere dot on the horizon as they run away with third spot. Even St Mirren, who have stumbled plenty since their storming start to the season, are eight points clear of us - albeit we have played a game less.

It should be unthinkable that Hibs don’t make it to the top six, yet here we are. Montgomery clearly would have benefited from having the internationalists available during January as well as the injured players who are now starting to come back into the team, but it would be as unfair to lay all the poor form on those factors, as it is to say it’s all down to the manager. 

Against Inverness Caledonian Thistle we got, for the first time this season under Montgomery, a glimpse of what a full-strength squad looks like, and it showed on the park. A comfortable 3-1 win  didn’t tell the full story of Hibs’ dominance in the game in the Highland capital. 

We were encouraged also by the performance against Celtic, losing to a late penalty kick having had two claims of our own ignored by the referee. The game goes down as a loss, but there are defeats and there are defeats, and this was one that shouldn’t go against the gaffer. 

Saturday’s match at Pittodrie was another crucial game for Hibs and opinion was split going into the match as to whether it was considered more of a “must-win” or a “must-not-lose” match. I think when it comes down to it, it’s the latter – we couldn’t afford Aberdeen to pull away from us and join the pack of teams fighting for sixth place at the split, so in that sense, it wasn’t a bad result.

Again, VAR played its part in the result. It corrected a poor offside call that would have deprived Hibs of an equalising goal, but failed to intervene after the referee inexplicably missed one of the more obvious handball offences you’ll likely see this season. 

Why Dundee game is 'must-win'

Montgomery is now at the point where folk are kicking the can down the road. Last week, he needed to get past Inverness and not lose to Aberdeen or that would be time up according to some, and now having navigated through those challenges, if not quite unscathed but at least with non-critical injuries, he must run the gauntlet with the Dundee game this afternoon. 

Today really is a must-win. Dundee are five points ahead of Hibs. If we lose, that becomes eight and with games running out, Hibs have no margin for error. Montgomery simply can’t afford to go into the derby with confidence shattered and the fans on his back, nor can he afford to lose touch with the top six. 

It’s also a bit of a nightmare scenario for Ben Kensell and Ian Gordon. They’ve backed Montgomery after headhunting him earlier in the season and with a backdrop of Shaun Maloney and Lee Johnson’s failed tenures at the club, another early dismissal will shine a light on their inability to hire the right guy, particularly with many fans clamouring for a more tried-and-tested option like Derek McInnes before Montgomery was appointed. 

Do they stick or twist? It is getting harder to make a case for Montgomery and, as much as I am in favour of giving managers time, and desperately want to see him succeed, the only way he will take the pressure off is to start winning matches, starting with today's six-pointer.