There was just no way to gloss over the events in Perth last night, and such is the forthright nature of John Hughes there was certainly no attempt to do so. The Hibernian manager was bitterly disappointed not only in the display of his own side in their 5-1 defeat at the hands of St Johnstone, but also in his own performance - the manager admitting that he simply got it wrong in terms of team selection and then in his own reaction to the fourth goal, resulting in his being sent to the stand.

The manager had set out his side much as he had done for the trip to Ibrox at the weekend - it was a plan that was intended to put the home side under pressure from the off, in the event it completely back-fired with Hibernian finding themselves two goals down inside ten minutes, and it might have been more. St Johnstone were first to every ball and attacked a fragile Hibernian defence from the outset, leaving Hughes to survey the wreckage of what was simply the worst performance his side has produced this season: "I am bitterly disappointed and I have to say that it is the biggest disappointment since I came into the club. I could sit here and try to gloss it up but there is no point in doing that because we were well beaten, well battered and it just wasn't our night.

"I could sit and patronise the fans, paint it up and saying things about what it is to play for Hibernian and to wear that jersey - it should be like that but that wasn't evident in this game. I will take responsibility for the result. I will take the blame for it because I picked the wrong team, it is as simple as that. We went up there and I felt that we could play and pass it to get at St Johnstone, but I shouldn't have done that, I should have come up with a different system to give us a chance to go and play our football. I will look at myself and I will learn from that."

The warning signs came as early as the second minute when St Johnstone easily breached a Hibernian back line that has been rock-solid for much of the season - but never looked comfortable in this game: "No matter who you are playing against, no matter how bad you are or how rampant the other side is - you just can't give them two goals in the first ten minutes, you simply cannot do that. When that happens you need to rise above it and play in a certain way because otherwise it will get worse and worse and worse. That was the way that it went but let's not take anything away from St Johnstone, they thoroughly deserved their victory, they were hungrier, showed more desire and more passion than us which resulted in them beating us convincingly."

There was one fleeting moment when Hibernian finally broke through the home defence and looked like they might stage a recovery - it was fleeting however, as inside another 60 seconds Hibernian were a man down and St Johnstone had scored again: "It was a sending off - Nishy kicked out at him and it was the linesman who saw it and he did what he had to do, Colin did not give the official any other option. In terms of my own sending off I let myself down. It was not for having a go at the linesman for Nishy's sending off, I felt that in the build up to their fourth goal Hanlon was fouled and I said that to the linesman. Maybe I overstepped the mark a little but I told the linesman he was quick enough to see the sending off but not the foul on Paul. I am disappointed because I let myself down and I need to be bigger and better than that."

Back to back defeat is not a situation the manager is used to dealing with at Hibernian this season, and he now has the job of urging a positive reaction from his side, and they have to do so on the road again at Fir Park this weekend: "I will say this, the boys have been absolutely fantastic for me since I came to this club, they really have and I have had a great response from them. Maybe this result will be a blessing in disguise - if we go to Motherwell and play like we can and earn the right to play football. That is what was missing in Perth, we didn't go out there and earn the right to play football - anybody can go out there, even I could have still be playing if nobody was going to tackle.

"It is all about legs, tackling, desire, commitment , you need to do that before you can play football and I felt that we came here wanting to play football and forgot to compete. That is disappointing but I hope that it is hurting the players. If it is hurting them then I hope we get the right response back on Saturday."