Hibernian manager Lee Johnson has asked the club’s supporters to keep faith after the crushing derby loss to Hearts piled more pressure on him.

Johnson is well aware that Monday’s 3-0 defeat - a ninth Premiership loss from 11 games - has led to greater speculation over his position at the club. 

That result had left the Leith outfit just four points clear of the Premiership relegation zone ahead of Sunday’s clash with Motherwell.

Johnson also took the usual step of launching a public attack on his players after the Tynecastle showdown, saying he was ‘sick to death of the mediocrity’.

However, Johnson claims he is unmoved by mounting criticism of his stewardship.

Johnson, who took over the reins last summer, said: “You have to take it in your stride, you continue to focus on performances and building up individual players.

“I make every decision at a football club like I'm going to be there forever, because that's what you have to do to make the right choices.

“At the same time, this is a great football club, to be manager of a great football club is a privilege - and what comes with that privilege is the pressure of people taking, outside noise, social media, media itself and that's understandable.

READ MORE: What next for Lee Johnson at Hibs? The club where everyone is fed up

“All I want is for our fanbase to enjoy watching their team, to believe that we can be successful - which I fully believe we can both this season and moving forward over the next two or three seasons.      

“We're doing everything we can and I just ask people to keep the faith and trust in the process - that has actually been quite short in terms of football succession plan and progression."                  

Speaking to Sky Sports, Johnson, whose team sit eighth in the league, added: "I've been through it. Any manager with 150 games has been through that once or twice.    

"The top managers throughout history have always had spells like that and have had to come through it.            

"The communication lines stay clear, the players and the board are behind the management and we all want this to work.                                                          

“You get the next opportunity to prove that, which is our next game on Sunday against Motherwell."             

Johnson, meanwhile, has explained his reasons for not going into the Hibs dressing room to address his players after the game against Hearts.                            

He added: “I won't be the first manager to have not gone into the dressing room after the game for the greater good. Because I believe that sometimes one-on-one conversations are good.                                          

"I think the manager not being in a dressing room after the game is conducive to players sometimes being a bit more honest with each other and themselves and then everything comes together when you come and train next and inevitably have that full stop meeting, as we call it, based on the game.                                              

"I think there's various different ways and techniques to improve, to bring the voice of younger players, for example, and we try to use a balance of those techniques.            

"It's all for the greater good of the team and trying to get that next result and making sure that the confidence remains from parts and elements of the performance.      

“Certainly over the recent run of games there's been some good parts to our play and that's the piece we need to hone in on to be able to put in a 96-minute performance against Motherwell.”