Neil Lennon says Hibs "unlucky" to lose Edinburgh derby

The Englishman's 28th-minute effort sent the away end at Easter Road into raptures as Hibs fell seven points behind their city rivals – a result that keeps the Hibees in eighth place and five points adrift of sixth-placed St Johnstone.

Steven Whittaker came agonisingly close to finding an equaliser as the veteran full-back saw his 20-yard strike hit the inside of the post and roll along the line before going out of play with just ten minutes remaining.

However, despite admitting his players didn't deserve to lose the contest, Lennon agreed his side lacked a cutting edge in the final third.

"I think we were unlucky – Luck didn't go for us tonight," Lennon said afterwards. "They scored a great goal and then we've bombarded them in the second. Obviously Steven's shot you're thinking it's going in but I'm not unhappy with the way we played. We just lacked quality at times in the final third and that has been apparent in the first half of the season.

"The quality of our play in the first two thirds of the pitch was good and we dominated the game for long periods and we've not done that against Hearts for a while. But we're not doing the most important thing in the game and that is scoring goals.

"We do have a raft of injuries but I'm not going to make excuses because I don't think we deserved to lose the game as it wasn't a poor performance by any means. It could have gone either way. It's hard to take especially when you have competed so well. We had a few young lads out there who will hopefully learn from the experience. We need to add to the squad – we need some quality in because that's what we're lacking at the moment. Some players are not playing anywhere near as well as they can."