Marink Reedijk says he wanted to cause “chaos” by sending a striker SOS to Scotland centre-half Grant Hanley in the closing stages of today’s dramatic 2-1 home loss to Celtic. And the Hibs boss hailed his team’s “bravery” in going toe-to-toe with league leaders who had dismantled near neighbours Hearts in their most recent domestic outing.

A third consecutive loss for Reedijk, the first Hibs manager to lose his first three games since Pat Fenlon, was a hard-fought affair that Celtic boss Martin O’Neill hailed as the best win of his team’s season. After losing top scorer Martin Boyle to illness, Hibs had to improvise in their starting line-up, promoting Joe Newell into the first XI at short notice.

But the most eye-catching move was Reedijk’s decision to send Hanley on as a target man with eight minutes plus injury time remaining. The big man very nearly produced an equaliser, dragging defenders away from team-mates as Josh Mulligan saw a goal-bound effort blocked by Cameron Carter Vickers.

Reedijk, explaining his thinking as he threw Hanley into an unfamiliar position, declared: “So what I wanted, because I saw the momentum of the game change in the favour of Celtic, the thing was for me that I wanted to impact something. I wanted to create a little bit of chaos.

“I spoke with Granty about it and he did a fantastic job in executing. I think we got two good chances because of that. And it can be the equaliser there. So I take my hat off to Granty today.”

Asked if he considered the decision to go route one, on a day of disruptively windy conditions, a particularly Scottish tactic, the Dutch coach quipped: “You know better than me. Because you guys are from Scotland.

“But for me it was more that we need to do something. We need to make sure that Celtic cannot do what they did, making the match dead, as I call that. So make sure that we put the game to bed and that's it.

“And we have tried to avoid this and get something out of the last ten minutes. And if that's Scottish, if you say so, then I will believe you.”

The fact that Hibs had to send for Hanley obviously illustrates how short they are at the business end of the park. With Nathan Lowe out because of a back injury, Owen Elding – not a natural No. 9 – has been filling in well, but there isn’t an obvious back-up, with Thibault Klidje now converted to the wing.

Asked if centre forward was a position he would look to strengthen during the January window, Reedijk said: “First things first, let's first focus on the games at hand. January is far away. Yes, we need to plan mid-term, but my first concern is now getting results.”

Reflecting on the game, the 35-year-old coach said: “So we start with the sour, the result, it's not what I want. Not what we deserve I think as well. Because if you then go to the performance, I think the performance we put on the pitch today was again an improvement on what we did over the last couple of weeks compared.

“And I think they didn't create a lot until the moment we started to play a little bit more opportunistic. And I think we had two, three very good chances, which need to be a goal. At least one.

“However, if you see that we go one up after two minutes and then concede the goal two minutes later, two, three minutes later, then I think how we then put our heads up within the position we're in and how we then show ourselves. That's what I call bravery. That's what I call togetherness. And that's what I want to see from my team.

“And also then, Boyle steps out last minute because he was sick and he didn't feel right to play. And then Joe comes in last minute. This is togetherness.

“And I put Granty in a position where he never played before, I think. And he impacted the game and that's togetherness. And this is what are the positive takeaways in the performances. So that's really important for me that I see these steps in the right direction. And that's a little bit the analysis of the game from today.”

Asked if he had confidence in his team to start picking up wins promptly, with a midweek trip to Paisley to face St Mirren and then an obviously enormous Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Hearts looming large on the horizon, Reedijk declared: “One hundred per cent. If I see that we can be the equals of Celtic, and I think this is not a lie; sometimes you will be blinkered as a coach, but I think if you look objectively this is also the case today. And that we didn't give away a lot of chances there.

“So I believe that we are in a good way and then the points will come. It will come.”

Newell wasn’t handed the armband despite starting, with Felix Passlack retaining the captaincy. But he was among the most impressive performers for Hibs, despite making his first league start since August.

“I think that's a good summary of what it says about him,” said Reedijk. “It's very professional. It's very good what he does there.

“And again, it's not easy to come on and being called up so late. If you see how he plays, also not played for a longer period of time, that’s also a compliment.”

Reedijk said it was too early to know whether Boyle will recover in time to face St Mirren, saying: “We have to see. He went home during kick-off I believe. First let him sleep and take some time and then we will decide and see how it is tomorrow.”