Nick Montgomery: Hibs learned lesson from Rangers defeat ahead of Celtic test

Hibs boss Nick Montgomery says his side can learn lessons from their defeat to Rangers and deliver an improved performance against Celtic.

The fixture list has handed Hibs a home match against the Premiership champions a week after a sobering 4-0 defeat at Ibrox and Montgomery admitted his players had lessons to learn after that match.

Montgomery didn’t think his side were outclassed in Glasgow but felt that mistakes in the wrong areas had blunted the attack and allowed the opposition too many opportunities.

He’s hopeful that the lessons have been taken on board after a disappointing 90 minutes.

“Defensively you can’t make errors in judgement against the better teams,” he said. “I also learned that the team has a lot of bravery and a lot of determination.

“The stats were very much that we had more possession in the first half and passes and by the end of the game it was pretty much 50-50.

“What we didn’t do was defend well in the key moments, and in the front third we lacked composure. We had four or five good chances and against the better teams we need to put chances away and you can’t give away poor goals.

“We take responsibility for that, I take responsibility for that as a coach.

“I’ve been here five or six weeks so plenty more time on the training ground, we’ve had a good week in training and we’ve worked on things that we need to improve on.”

The manager didn’t underestimate the challenge in facing a Celtic side that drew 2-2 with Atletico Madrid on Wednesday but believes that if his side concentrates and works hard then they can make life difficult for Brendan Rodgers’ side.

“The league table tells you they are the best team in the country right now and they are a fantastic team,” he said. “Brendan’s done a great job with them since taking over.

“It’s always about us. Obviously you give full respect to the opposition and yes, you need to defend better, as a team.

“People talk about us being a 4-2-4 and it’s not, it’s a 4-4-2 and if you defend in a 4-4-2 and you have four midfielders defending and switch on quickly when they want to transition then we can defend really well.

“If we don’t, against top teams, then they will punish you.

“We know exactly what we’re up against. They’re a very good team and have a very good squad.

“They had a tough game on Wednesday but that’s why they are the champions. They have a big squad and they can rotate if Brendan wants to do that but we’ll be looking forward to the game.

“If we perform the way we can then we can compete and it can be a good game for everybody.”