Lee Johnson pointed to a poor first-half performance as the main reason for the Hibees 1-0 defeat to Falkirk on Tuesday night.

Aidan Nesbitt’s first-half strike was the difference between the sides as Johnson suffered his first defeat as Hibs Manager.

After a resounding 5-0 victory over Clyde on Saturday, the Hibees failed to start the match with the same level of intensity and were second best in the opening 45.

Speaking after the match, Johnson shared his thoughts with Hibs TV. He said:

“We lost the game in the first half, that was a poor display in my eyes. The good thing is we know exactly how we want to play so it is very easy for me and my staff to determine why it was poor and what was wrong with it.

“With the beauty of having five substitutes is it means, if you are mediocre then that is not enough and we will just change it - we had to do that at half-time.

“Maybe there was a bit of complacency in the first half, there was definitely a cohesion issue as some of our lads hadn’t played with each other before.

"We didn’t start well, they started very well – they were bright, they were busy and they out enthused us, that is disappointing for me to say but it is the reality.”

The second half was a different story, Johnson made four changes at the break and his side created plenty of chances to level the tie.

Henderson hit the woodwork twice, Melkersen hit the post with a header and Doidge had a chance to level it in injury time, but ultimately we fell short.

Despite the defeat, Johnson is confident that this is only a minor blip in what has been a positive month on the pitch.

“Our quality was still a bit loose, we were absolutely ruthless in front of goal on Saturday (against Clyde) but today we had five or six good opportunities and we haven’t taken them.

“I am learning a lot about the squad and they are learning a lot about me which is important too – hopefully that will help us drive the standards moving forward.

“There have been so many positives from the pre-season period so far and we have had 45 minutes of negatives.

"On the whole, I am disappointed because I want to win every football match but I am comfortable with where we are."

Reaction from Lee Johnson following tonight's #PremierSportsCup game in Falkirk... pic.twitter.com/8WNkdsDosX