Lee Johnson admits he understands Hibs fans' anger with his side on the brink of a shock Premier Sports Cup exit. Punters at Easter Road made their feelings known at full-time as Johnson's side drew with Morton before giving up a bonus in the ensuing penalty shoot-out.
It means the Premiership side are now relying on Clyde denying Falkirk to give them a chance of scraping through to the knockout stage. The Hibees toiled against a well-drilled and resilient Morton and missed three of their four spot-kicks, which disappointed Johnson even further.
And he admitted supporters had every right to vent their fury at full-time. Asked about the jeers from the stands, Johnson told BBC Sportsound: "Yeah, of course, it's fair enough. Listen, I'll never speak bad about, or go against, the fans. It's their job to be however they want to be. At times they saw our potential, there was some good moments as well for the fanbase.
"But, just like all of us and the lads, we're all frustrated. It's a competition we should've advanced in but now we need a little bit - or a lot - of help from Clyde to do that. We've put ourselves in that position. There's no excuses."
He continued: "People want to see goals and see goalmouth action, and some didn't do enough today. It's as simple as that. The lads have also got to look at themselves.
"Even the penalties, we've missed three of the four penalties with top players. Nobody wants to miss but at the same time you've got to have that bit about you to put those balls in. The pressure of a club like this is always the privilege and I'm just desperate to do well, as is everybody at the club, to bring success to the club."
The former Sunderland manager was also puzzled by the lack of a fourth official for the Group D. And while he insisted it was no excuse for the result, Johnson admitted he found it "a little amateur".
He said: "There's a lot of things I'm learning, we're learning - the formats, the referees, the opposition. There was a lot of time wasting today, how there was only four minutes at the end I'll never know.
"The momentum was sapped out of it. There was no fourth official in what's supposedly the third biggest competition in the league?
"You look at these things and go "hmm, that's a little amateur in my eyes". But that's not an excuse. We had to win the game and we didn't.
