Hibs were off the pace in derby, says boss Calderwood
Last updated on .From the section Football
Hibernian manager Colin Calderwood bemoaned a lack of match sharpness after watching his side lose 2-0 to Hearts at Tynecastle.
Calderwood's side remain bottom of the Scottish Premier League after losing the season's first Edinburgh derby.
"We've got to send our apologies to the fans because what we produced in the second half was way below standard," Calderwood told BBC Scotland.
"We looked like what we were, a team with players short of match fitness."
However, Calderwood believes with game time his team will improve.
"The good thing is that the physical output of the boys will get better," he said.
"Osbourne, O'Hanlon, Towell, Sodje, Agogo; they'll all benefit from the game and then this fortnight of training (during the international break).
"The underlying talent in the group is better than results suggest."
Ryan Stevenson fired Hearts ahead before half-time and Andy Webster headed the home side's second from a corner.
"In the first half there wasn't an opportunity for them to score until we gifted them the ball. That can happen," added Calderwood.
"We had one or two crosses and didn't get numbers into the right areas and once they scored the second goal, we didn't play with any quality.
"We needed a break but if you make the game as long as we did, we'll never get a break, you don't deserve that. We've got to make the game compact, we've got to play with a lot more quality.
"We've got to have a little bit more of a threat in the last third but that will come.
"We made the substitutions but we didn't defend a set play and in reality that changed it because in the first 15 minutes of the second half we were very much in the ascendancy with better crosses.
"But then we looked very weak at the back and they looked as if they were going to get in in that middle 15 minutes of the second half."
