Lee Johnson has Hibs momentum and can have me gobbling down my words after El Sackio recovery - Tam McManus

The old saying goes that when a man won’t admit he’s wrong he gets angry. Well, hands up, I’m starting to think I was mistaken about Lee Johnson and Hibs – and it’s making me very happy.

It’s hard to believe it’s not even four months since back-to-back derby defeats made it 10 losses in 14 games for Johnson leading into a clash with Aberdeen that was dubbed El Sackico. At that point my old club were seventh, eight points behind Hearts having played a game more, and I claimed the noisy neighbours were “light years ahead on and off the park”. But how times have changed, with just one point separating them going into the final three games and momentum suggesting Hibs could actually pip them to fourth spot. And that would have me gobbling down my words with lashings of salt and sauce.

Listen, Hibs have gone through tough periods this season. When you lose nine out of 11 games as Johnson did between October and January then you’re going to be under pressure. That’s the nature of the beast at big clubs. I was critical. The number of signings last summer, particularly project players, never impressed me and some of the displays were dire.

But performances over the last four games have been excellent, particularly when the pressure was on against the Jam Tarts and then up at Aberdeen was probably their best 90 minutes of the season even though it finished 0-0.

You can see Johnson is now building something and that’s all Hibs fans wanted. Clear signs of progress – in performances and results. The top six was an absolute minimum. Fifth would be fair, fourth would be fantastic.

Finish above Hearts, grab the bragging rights in the city and this season would turn into a successful one. Then it would be about building on that