Hearts interim boss Steven Naismith feels his side need to start carrying more of a threat if they are to bring their hopes of Europe back to life as he admitted an early injury to Michael Smith "doesn't look good."
The 1-0 loss to Hibs condemns Hearts to their sixth straight defeat - their first in the derby since Boxing Day 2019 - and marks a painful start to Naismith's run as interim manager who now sees his Jambos side remain five points behind Aberdeen in third.
A win for Aberdeen against Ross County piled on the pressure for Hearts who desperately needed to take something from their city rivals to prevent the slump in form, but Kevin Nisbet ensured the points would be staying in Leith.
READ MORE: Hibs 1 Hearts 0 as Jambos' poor run continues, third place slipping away - 3 things we learned
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Michael Smith's derby came to a premature end as he came off with just three minutes on the clock in an added woe for Hearts fans, as Naismith issued an update to Hearts TV.
He said: "It doesn't look good but you never know with these things until two or three days after so we'll wait and see. I thought when he came on generally he'd played really well."
The interim boss felt that there was little to separate the two sides but that their inability to create chances in the final third killed their chances of a third victory over Hibs this season.
He continued: "I don't think there was too much in the game, they carried more of a threat than we did. I felt for the majority of the game we defended really well.
"In possession, I still think there's elements of the game where we're doing what we have done in the previous weeks in terms of being slow to play forward and just trying to get the players to understand the dynamic of that and what that does.
"It's a simple thing but the times we did play the ball forward at the right times, we were in their final third very quickly. And then we just didn't create enough in their final third and that's something we need to change and that I expect to change next week.
"We're a team that should be letting teams worry about us and taking chances, but today at best our chances were average. They weren't really good clear cut chances.
"When we've got Shanks [Lawrence Shankland] in the team who, as a goalscorer, we need to create chances for. We've got good footballers in the team who, at this moment in time, are just not making the right choice.
"A lot of the times when we developed the game higher up the pitch, we played a high risk pass and when we lose it, we're chasing back 20 or 40 yards to save a counterattack. That needs to get better.
"We need to pick the right chance and that doesn't mean we keep the ball just for the sake of keeping it, but there's no point giving it away just to make it end-to-end."
Naismith was able to pile praise on his side's defence however, as he credited Kye Rowles for his efforts early on in Leith, but felt a repeated theme from Hearts' defeats had slipped in once again.
He added: "In the game we defended well, and I thought Kye Rowles was really good. I thought he defended the box early on very well when they tried bringing momentum and they were very direct getting balls into the box.
"I thought he'd done really well, but one moment cost us and that's been what it has been probably all the way through the season.
"Like I touched on in terms of how quickly we can play forward, the same focus at set plays is obviously still lingering there, but on the whole I would say we defended better today than we have in previous games.
"We need to carry more of a threat and we need to play in the opponents half. When our chances come along we need to take them, and that's inevitably it.
"Once we start doing that people will enjoy it more, they will get more confident and it becomes easier to do."
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