Lacklustre Hibs are punished in disasterous showing at Dens Park

And they’re probably right.

Despite coming through the first quarter of the season still pressing Celtic at the top of the table, it’s the likes of Aberdeen or Dundee United who the critics say are expected to be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.

But perhaps results like thisdefeat at Dens Park on Saturday are the perfect example of exactly why Hibs have their doubters.

Pat Fenlon has brought a level of consistency back to the club for the first time in a number of seasons, but they will have to work hard on convincing everyone outside the camp that their challenge isn’t about to come to a shuddering halt.

Goals from Kyle Benedictus, Steven Milne and former Hibs boy Kevin McBride from the penalty spot meant that the game was all but over with little more than 50 minutes gone.

Although Leigh Griffiths bagged a late goal – his 13th of the season – defender Alan Maybury admitted that it’s results like the defeat at Dens Park that give their critics new ammunition, but he’s determined that this defeat won’t be the beginning of a slump for his side while acknowledging that is exactly what rival supporters will be saying.

He said: “Of course there will be people who say that our bubble has burst, but we don’t believe so.

“We didn’t do enough to win the game and the manager pointed out that the standards set by us this season weren’t met on Saturday.

“We got what we deserved and the challenge now is to put in a good performance next week.Nine times out of ten you’ll get the result to go with it.

“You can’t promise results every week. We’ve been on a good run and maybe some of the teams we have played against will feel that we have nicked a result here and there that we haven’t deserved but, at the end of the day, we have got those results. We were below par on Saturday and the challenge now is to make sure that it is a one-off and that we get back to the standards that we have set ourselves.