Nick Montgomery spoke to the media following Saturday's defeat at St Johnstone. Here's everything the Hibs manager had to say.

Your thoughts on the performance today?

"It was a disappointing performance in all. I felt at half time it would be a mistake that would probably result on a goal and we didn't capitalise on the mistakes they made, especially in the first half. We had a couple of opportunities. That pitch was tough at times, people slipping over and missing the ball, but we didn't deserve to win the game. Did we deserve to lose it? On reflection of the whole game, probably not. But we did, we lost the game, and at 1-0, you know they are going to fight for everything. What we didn't have was enough going forward to create a real threat, that sort of played into their hands.

Were you surprised at how little the team created?

"Yeah, surprised, but they are dropping deep and putting a lot of men behind the ball, looking to catch you on the counter attack, so it's not easy to break a team down when we were lacking that urgency in the front third. A couple of times the ball bounced around in the box and keeper dropped on it, or we were offside, so when you look back at we could have made more of those key moments. It wasn't to be today, it felt like we weren't going to score today and that's the most disappointing thing because when you look at the players we had on the pitch, we had a lot of attacking flair. Even with the subs that I made, they were very attacking. We just lacked a bit of creativity and we got done by a mistake.

Did you speak to Dylan Levitt about the error for the goal?

"I don't need to speak to Dylan. It was a mistake, everybody makes mistakes. It was a genuine mistake. Dylan has been absolutely fantastic for me, an exceptional footballer, but he maybe slips or just doesn't catch the ball right. What's disappointing is that when we gave the ball away, we didn't react to cover and recover the mistake. But credit to them, it's a good strike, right in the corner, so it's a difficult one for David Marshall. So there's no blame on anyone, it's a genuine mistake.

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"There's loads of mistakes in football today - especially in the first half - and we didn't take advantage. We didn't create chances in what was a very difficult game. No blame on anyone, it’s a genuine mistake. But that’s fine. There are a lot of mistakes in football. They made a lot of mistakes in the first half today and we didn’t capitalise.  Credit to them for capitalising on the one mistake. We didn’t put away the chances we had, didn’t create enough chances.  

Did Lewis Miller have an issue at half-time?

“Lewis was sick. He was coughing and spluttering at half-time. And he was on a yellow card, feeling out of breath. I could leave him on and maybe he gets sent off, which is what he did at Dundee. So when he wasn’t feeling well, I wasn’t risking that. That was the reason behind it. 

Did you look at the lack of attacking edge today and feel it needs to be solved by bringing in players?

“I don’t think it’s something we look at strengthening. Players go through purple patches, spells where they score goals, and they go through spells when they don’t score or create chances. You saw the subs I made, Christian Doidge coming in trying to create a bit more. I think we did more.  The disappointing thing is we got bodies forward - but they were resilient. We have to give credit to them. They cleared everything, fell on everything at the edge of the box. Sometimes that happens.   That’s on us, that’s on me. We just get back on the training ground and continue to work as we do, win, lose or draw. We have to be better than we were today. 

Dylan Vente's red card being overturned, would it have been harsh if it stood?

“I think it would have been harsh. He genuinely just went to flick the ball around the corner and the guy ducked his head. Common sense prevailed and fair play to the referee for having a look, because there was no intent from Dylan to kick him in the head.  I’ve just seen the VAR back on the possible penalty right at the end. It looks like it’s hit the boy’s arm. Whether it’s deemed intentional or not, we didn’t get that today. WE go away empty handed. But we accept that we weren’t good enough today. We move on and prepare for next week.”