Derek Riordan was obviously frustrated on Tuesday after missing from the penalty spot for a second time this season - but the striker knows the secret is not letting these things get you down for long, and is promising to bounce right back again and do what he likes to do best - score goals.

And on the scoring front, Derek is insisting in his Hibernian TV interview this morning that this has been the best start to a season that he has ever had - in spite of one of his goals being 'stolen' from him! Derek is referring to a strike against Brechin City that took a deflection and was subsequently allocated as an own goal, something he hotly disputes. However looking in general at how the season has begun Riordan is happy enough with his own overall contribution, certainly in terms of his primary aim, scoring goals.

He told Hibernian TV: "I'm still happy with the way the season has gone for me - although I'm claiming five goals so far and not just four, I'm not happy about the goal against Brechin being counted as an own goal! It was a shot to the back post and it did not change direction or anything - it just took a deflection of the boys head but it was going in anyway. So five goals is what I'm claiming so far in half a dozen games that's a good start, my aim as always is to score as many goals as possible so I'm not too unhappy at the way things have started on a personal level. In fact I think that is possibly the best start to the season I've had, I think in previous seasons here I've not scored at all until we were five or six games into the season."

That said Riordan is not so happy about the start the team has made as a whole, the exit form the Co-operative Cup on Tuesday was certainly not in the overall plan. Derek however insists things will come good when the side has had a chance to find their feet under John Hughes, insisting that it is still very early for what is more or less a new team: "We are certainly not playing well just now, not nearly as fluent as we want to be playing. The manager has been changing things a bit and obviously it's going to take us time to find the correct balance in the team, we have a lot of new players and it will take time to find the right system. It will take time but we are picking up league points even though we are not playing anything like as well as we know we can play.

"With players like Liam Miller and Anthony Stokes in the side we know we can do well, Liam I remember playing for Celtic and he was a fantastic player. Things might not have worked out for him at Manchester United but he is a great player - but again it will take him a few games to settle in and get his fitness levels up again, but he has quick feet and great passing ability."

The next challenge for the side comes at Fir Park on Saturday against a Motherwell side who have also been rebuilding under a new manager: "I watched Motherwell recently against Rangers and they really should have won that game, it was a typical day against an Old Firm side who can wear you down and grab the points in the end. But Motherwell is a young side and are really doing well just now, so going there is not going to be easy at all."

Find out what Derek thinks of his strike-partner Anthony Stokes in the exclusive interview on Hibernian TV - available now.