This is how it feels (St. Johnstone 26 09 21)

[Jonnyboy]

Jack Ross made two changes to his starting eleven with Josh Doig replacing Lewis Stevenson and Chris Cadden replacing Jake Doyle-Hayes. Formation was a pre match discussion point with the 4-2-3-1 set up, used recently, the favourite to be used. In truth, I thought we started a little more flexibly than that and certainly early on it looked like a 3-4-1-2 with Cadden and Doig wide and Allan in behind Boyle and Nisbet when we had the ball. In any event, we may or may not have started that way but in actuality, our formation changed numerous times during the ninety minutes.

One thing most notable in the early minutes was that Magennis was playing a deeper role, allowing Allan to stay central, rather than wide left as he had done in the previous two games. Five minutes in, Hibs had their first chance when Hanlon nodded the ball down in the St Johnstone box and Josh Doig brought out a smart save from Zander Clark. The visitors sat deep and looked to cause trouble on the break, but their early attempts were thwarted by decent defensive work from Hibs. Next to try his luck was Kyle Magennis who took a pass from Kevin Nisbet and brought out a save, low to his right, from Clark. Next, and for my money there was a decent shout for a penalty as Clark seemed to catch Nisbet low down, but referee John Beaton thought otherwise.

With the twenty minute mark approaching, Macey enjoyed his first action of the game by saving a decent effort by Chris Kane, at the expense of a corner. For the next ten minutes or so, Hibs struggled to contain the visitors who won a series of corners and watched on as a Rooney effort sailed just wide. The home support was getting restless, but more at the referee than the team as Beaton made a series of baffling decisions, Hibs rarely getting the benefit of them.

The game was pretty scrappy for a while but as half time approached, Hibs found their way again and Clark had to look smart when saving from Boyle on two separate occasions. Five minutes from the break, Ryan Porteous was booked for a silly challenge and as a result was probably as frustrated as his team mates and every Hibs fan in the ground because numerous such challenges on Hibs players had brought neither a card and, more often than not, not even a free kick. Right on half time, Hanlon headed wide from a Scott Allan corner and beat the ground in frustration because he knew his effort should have been on target.

Half time saw the removal of Magennis, presumably through injury, and the arrival of Doyle-Hayes. Jack Ross must have had a few stern words in the interval because Hibs looked more purposeful in their play, moving the ball quicker and making life a little more difficult for the Saints midfield. Chances were few however and the next thing of any note was the booking of Muller for a foul on Macey. That card brought ironic cheers from the home support who collectively felt aggrieved that Hibs had suffered at the hands of a referee who seemed determined to baffle everyone with lots of his decisions.

Hibs were almost caught cold by a breakaway when Crawford fed Rooney and the Saints man showed impressive pace in trying to lose Josh Doig, but Josh did just enough to put Rooney off, the effort at goal missing well to the side of Macey’s left hand post.

A few minutes later, Newell fed Boyle who cracked a shot at goal only for the ball to strike McCart. Several Hibs players and hundreds of fans at the corner of the West and North stands screamed for a penalty. Beaton took his time but eventually pointed to the spot, bringing fury from the Saints defenders. I’ll be honest, from my vantage point all I saw was Boyle’s effort strike a defender and fly back towards him. I’ve since learned it was for hand ball against McCart who was booked as a result. In the melee that followed, Boyle kept his focus and when the time came, he blasted the ball past Clark, with the keeper getting a hand to it but beaten by the power of the strike. Unsurprisingly, Liam Craig was also booked, presumably for his party trick of moaning excessively at referees.

Prior to play restarting, Josh Doig, who had spoken to those on the bench during the penalty stramash, was replaced due to injury with Lewis Stevenson coming on. The visitors were hurting and tried to beef up their attack by replacing Muller with Middleton. In the minutes that followed it was Hibs that looked the more likely with attempts by Nisbet, Boyle and Nisbet again before Joe Newell was booked for a late challenge in the centre circle. Moments later, Jamie McCart took umbrage with the assistant referee over the awarding of a throw in to Hibs and proceeded to clap the decision in a show of dissent. Silly boy as it earned him a second yellow and off he went.

Next came an audacious effort at goal by Scott Allan. From around twenty five tards the Hibs man noted Clark off his line and lobbed the ball towards goal causing the giant keeper to scramble back just in time to tip the ball over the bar. It was one of those moments when the whole Hibs support gasped in unison.

In the normal course of things, you’d expect the eleven men would pin the ten men back but kudos to Callum Davidson and his players because they just kept coming at Hibs. This meant we were sitting deep and many in the crowd didn’t like it, but the fact is if they flood six or seven men forward, we have to bring men back to assist the defence which we did to good effect.

With five minutes left, Allan left the field to a standing ovation and was replaced by Jamie Gullan. Moments later, Nisbet was hurt in a challenge and after treatment he was booked for his part in that challenge. With the fourth official holding up the board to indicate five minutes of time added on, Gullan saw an effort saved before Doyle-Hayes and Crawford had a bit of a handbag’s moment in midfield before the Hibs man was then booked for a foul on the same player.

There was a heart in mouth moment deep into the added time when Macey couldn’t collect the ball cleanly, but Porteous cleared and then at the death, Stevenson sent a lovely ball through to Nisbet who had only Rooney for company. With Boyle busting a gut to get to the centre of the Saints box some ten yards out, Nisbet elected instead to shoot, much to the disappointment of Boyle and several thousand Hibs fans.

A hard fought win but one that finally gets the monkey off our backs.

The players

Macey – Strangely, he didn’t have many shots to save but he was busy with cross balls, especially inswinging corners which he generally punched or pushed away two handed to good effect.

McGinn – Once again Paul put in a good shift and allowed very few crosses from his side. I felt he struggled a bit in getting forward because he had a static Cadden in front of him as well as Boyle often drifting wide right to make the area congested.

Porteous – Fantastic performance from Ryan who defended well and sensibly and was largely untroubled by the livewire Chris Kane. My man of the match.

Hanlon – A captain’s performance from Paul who looked calm and composed throughout. Came very close to winning my man of the match, pipped only by a supreme performance from Porto.

Doig – Josh managed to get forward a bit more than of late but more importantly, in my view at least, he dealt very well with the marauding Rooney who, for such a big guy has a great touch and is quick over the grass.

Newell – Joe is always there or thereabouts and today he was both energetic and, when required, aggressive in the challenge.

Magennis – As I alluded too earlier, he sat much deeper today and had a decent first half before being replaced by Doyle-Hayes. I’m assuming an injury and hope it’s not so bad he’ll miss the trip to Ibrox.

Cadden – I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I felt he was largely peripheral today and was often caught standing when McGinn was looking to play him in down the line. He wasn’t bad but he wasn’t great either.

Allan – Scotty, I thought, had a quietish first half but produced a few moments of real quality in the second. Had that lob gone in we’d have had to hand him the keys to Easter Road.

Boyle – Not so prominent of late but again he suffered less brutal challenges than usual. If you asked him, I bet he’d say the ball was going to end up in the net before it struck McCart, but it did anyway with his firmly struck penalty.

Nisbet – I could sense moments today when the crowd was unhappy with him. On a few occasions he failed to close down his man and that’s not great, but he also produced a couple of decent passes to set up team mates – sadly exactly what he should have done at the death but went for glory instead.

Doyle-Hayes – Jake is a bit of a water carrier in this Hibs side. Always willing to receive and move but he was getting a bit of stick from somebody close to me for not surging forward with the ball at his feet. I think that was a bit unfair because his job today, especially after we scored, was to help us retain possession of the ball, which often meant a pass back rather than a pass forward.

Stevenson – Lewis as ever was as solid as a rock and one or two of his passes forward were high quality. First and foremost, he’s a defender and a bloody good one at that.

Gullan – Hammer did as he was told in helping close down Saints defenders when they were trying to build from the back. It’s a shame that the only sight of goal he had fell to his weaker foot.

Jack Ross – I listened to JR’s interview on my way home and thought he summed up the day perfectly.

Referee – John Beaton. Sheeeeesssh I don’t want to break the dot net swear filter.

PS - Ryan was my Man of the Match but for me the best defender on the park and by a long way was Efe Ambrose.

[judas]

Thanks for the report. I was sitting waiting for it and it was worth it, as usual.

[BILLYHIBS]

Brilliant Jonnyboy

Thanks for posting

Watching on my dodgy stream the Nisbet / Zander Clark penalty incident did not look a pen

Might be wrong as it was like watching through a snow storm

[Greenbeard]

When the card came out for Porto I thought it was for the Saints player who clearly pulled Porto’s jersey first. Mind I was 60-70 yards away.
Agree re Cadden being pretty static. Also several times he cut back instead of looking to get a cross in. Think we would have been more threatening had Boyle been RWB.
Frustrates me still how infrequently our midfielders move for a return pass. Just seem to amble while covered, the consequence being overly optimistic passes from deep from defenders.

[MartinfaePorty]

Agree with everything, except your comments about Efe. Played ok, but had one dodgy moment in the first half that almost let Nisbet in, plus 2 late attempted clearances that went straight to our players, so 3rd behind Porto and Hanlon for me.

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[O'Rourke3]

Great report as always,.From the West upper it looked like the ball struck his elbow which was sticking out slightly. Apparently the ref needs to think it stopped the shot reaching the target, not necessarily in an unnatural position. Jack Ross thought it was correct even if it was harsh. Good enough for me.

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[SonOfDavidFrancey]

Interested in your thoughts on Doig. Although there has been done negative noise around Nisbet, Doig seems to me to be struggling a bit this season.

[The Harp Awakes]

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When the card came out for Porto I thought it was for the Saints player who clearly pulled Porto’s jersey first. Mind I was 60-70 yards away.
Agree re Cadden being pretty static. Also several times he cut back instead of looking to get a cross in. Think we would have been more threatening had Boyle been RWB.
Frustrates me still how infrequently our midfielders move for a return pass. Just seem to amble while covered, the consequence being overly optimistic passes from deep from defenders.

The incident where Porteous got a yellow was right in front of us in the The West Lower. It was yet another complete howler from Beaton. Kane clearly fouled Porteous first pulling his shirt and that's how he got in front of Porteous. The west stand linesman had the same view of the incident as us and did nowt.

[hibbydog]

Thanks

Never a penalty but we’ll take it

Agree big Efe strolled it today.

I was bricking it because there were 5 ex Hibs players on the pitch at one point, and they always seem to score against us. Gladly. Not today though.

[number9dream]

Are we the new Rangers with all of these ridiculous penalties coming our way?!
A pretty dreadful 90 minutes really but we'll take the win and hopefully a few of our players can rest up and recover before we go to Ibrox. What are the chances of a dodgy pen there?

[wookie70]

Thought the Porteous booking for being fouled was a joke. You could have been stood on Arthurs Seat and saw the pull of the Jersey from Kane. I agree with him being the MOTM and Hanlon ran him close. All the defenders played pretty well and our issues, unusually for us were mostly when we had the ball. In the first half though we sat back and gave Saints player the freedom to play, that stopped in the second half.

I'd like to see Allan's lob again, decent effort that was fairly easily saved. I thought he had time and could have taken a touch and driven it low but he tested the Keeper which is always a good thing. Like most of our forward players today he was poor imo.

Macey did really well with the high balls into the box in the first half and completely agree with the points regarding Cadden. He was crowded out by Hibs players with Boyle, Allan and McGinn often standing in that right wing area bringing defenders over. Why Allan wasn't on the left is beyond me as he just played well there twice and he was nowhere near as effective more centrally.

Special mention to Doig too. The run you mention was very important in stopping another Rooney goal and he did pretty well in defence throughout. He looked pretty lively in the first half going forward with one lovely run. Hope he recovers for next week but Lewis is a more than capable deputy

[Cat Stanton]

Thanks as always for taking the time to do this. Very fair account of the proceedings. Much appreciated.

[Key West]

Thought that Porteous and Doig were the stand out players for Hibs today.

[B.H.F.C]

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Thought that Porteous and Doig were the stand out players for Hibs today.

Also thought Doig was much better today.

[matty_f]

I thought we were good in the second half and deserved the points. First half was a bit more of a typical Hibs v St J match.

Bit of good luck with the penalty but we’ve seen plenty go against us over the years.

[Smartie]

What is Gullan's stronger foot/ weaker foot?

I thought he was stronger on his right but plays off the left so he can cut in onto his stronger foot?

I saw he got a shot away on his right today but haven't seen him play that much to be able to comment.

Glad he's got on during the past couple matches (albeit only briefly) and he's done fine whilst he's been on.

[jacomo]

Thanks JB.

If there’s an illness in the camp with a number of players affected then it’s an even more impressive result today.

Good to finally end the run of losses against St J too.

[wookie70]

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Thanks JB.

If there’s an illness in the camp with a number of players affected then it’s an even more impressive result today.

Good to finally end the run of losses against St J too.

Jack Ross said a number of players weren't training. I'm sure Magennis, Boyler and Nisbet were those mentioned. The way he said it suggested knocks and playing through them rather than illness

[JimBHibees]

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Interested in your thoughts on Doig. Although there has been done negative noise around Nisbet, Doig seems to me to be struggling a bit this season.

Thought the wing back role suited him better as further up the pitch. Took on Rooney a few times which was good to see. Shame about the injury which looked a hamstring so 3-4 weeks out I think.

[hibbyfraelibby]

Porto has picked up a few bookings now and must be approaching a ban. His passion, and mouth, is a double edged sword.

[Sir David Gray]

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Porto has picked up a few bookings now and must be approaching a ban. His passion, and mouth, is a double edged sword.

He's picked up four bookings so far, another two bookings will result in a one match ban.

[Blaster]

Thanks JB. Missed the first half but thought we looked in control most of the 2nd half without creating loads. 3 very important points

[Highwayman]

Good assessment as always JB.
That was the seventh time over a year that Hibs have played St Johnstone and it showed.Both sides had each other pretty well sussed out and neither had any surprises to spring.
The Saints are a decent side and Davidson has them well set up and organised.However I wouldn’t take any of their individual players.
If I was a fair and balanced person,I would say an 0-0 draw would have been a fair result.But as I am neither I was delighted that we put one over on these annoying b******* at last.
Question,concerning Porteous racking up bookings towards a suspension.What are the rules this season concerning bookings as I found it difficult to understand the rules last seasons.

[Saint Hibee]

Great assessment, as always. I'm not sure why Rooney was never one of the St Johnstone players we were interested in during the window - he's very, very good.

[scoopyboy]

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Good assessment as always JB.
That was the seventh time over a year that Hibs have played St Johnstone and it showed.Both sides had each other pretty well sussed out and neither had any surprises to spring.
The Saints are a decent side and Davidson has them well set up and organised.However I wouldn’t take any of their individual players.
If I was a fair and balanced person,I would say an 0-0 draw would have been a fair result.But as I am neither I was delighted that we put one over on these annoying b******* at last.
Question,concerning Porteous racking up bookings towards a suspension.What are the rules this season concerning bookings as I found it difficult to understand the rules last seasons.

If it's the same as last seasons then after 19 games bookings get returned to zero.

Hanlon and McGinn were just one away before they were reset.

[Greenbeard]

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Porto has picked up a few bookings now and must be approaching a ban. His passion, and mouth, is a double edged sword.

JDH picked up a silly needless one too. Compare with the yellow the ST Mirren boy got for a proper rugby tackle on the Sheep Hayes. From the deck he literally grabbed onto Hayes' leg with both hands to pull him back as he looked to get away towards goal. Beats me why that is not a straight red. Such a blatant "professional" foul.

[hibeejeebies]

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Great assessment, as always. I'm not sure why Rooney was never one of the St Johnstone players we were interested in during the window - he's very, very good.

Same here SH, always decent whenever I've seen him play.

[Jonnyboy]

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Great assessment, as always. I'm not sure why Rooney was never one of the St Johnstone players we were interested in during the window - he's very, very good.

Yep, any time I’ve seen him I’ve been impressed and I thought he was outstanding on Sunday. Clever feet, great in the air and an impressive turn of pace.

[bigwheel]

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Yep, any time I’ve seen him I’ve been impressed and I thought he was outstanding on Sunday. Clever feet, great in the air and an impressive turn of pace.

He was good indeed on Sunday - he still looks stronger going forward than in defence ..hence a few of our boys running past him…

[Stanton Spence]

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Same here SH, always decent whenever I've seen him play.

I was thinking the same, I've heard loads of folk say he can't defend but he was just as good defending as he was going forward yesterday and seems to enjoy playing against us

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