FORMER Sunderland boss Lee Johnson has issued a “keep the faith” plea as pressure builds following Hibernian’s derby defeat against Hearts.

The Hibernian manager spoke about being “sick to death of the mediocrity” at the Easter Road club following the 3-0 loss at Tynecastle on Monday.

It was the ninth defeat in 11 cinch Premiership games for the Leith outfit and Johnson, who took over as boss in the summer, vowed to clear out the “dead wood” within his squad.

Speaking to Sky Sports Scotland and with a trip to Motherwell on Sunday looming, the ex-Black Cats boss said: “You have to take it in your stride. You continue to focus on the performances and building up individual players.

“I make every decision at a football club like I am going to be there forever because that’s what you have to do to make the right choices.

“But at the same time this is a great football club and to be manager of a great football club is a privilege and what comes with that privilege is the pressures of people talking, outside noise, social media, media and that is understandable.

“All I want is for our fan base to enjoy watching their team, to believe that we can be successful, which I fully believe we can, both this season and moving forward and I think we can be really successful moving forward over the next two-three seasons.

“We are doing everything we can and I just ask people to keep the faith and trust in the process that has been relatively short in that football succession plan and progression.”