Jonnyboy
23-12-2020, 08:59 PM
After that crushing disappointment when losing a late equaliser to Dundee United last Saturday, Jack Ross expressed the view that he’d never been angrier at his players but having reflected on the matter he decided to go with the same starting eleven.
It was the visitors that started the better of the two sides as Hibs seemed to struggle with their central two in midfield against the three of St. Mirren but having said that, St. Mirren didn’t really create anything of note. That was due at least in part to the fact that their final ball was poor but more so because Hibs were defending their goalmouth really well.
On the tenth minute mark, Cammy MacPherson tried his luck from distance, but his effort flew high and wide of Marciano’s goal. Against United, Hibs had dominated and created several scoring chances, but they were thinner on the ground tonight. A breakthrough did come however on the 18 minute mark when Newell picked out a clever run from Boyle. The Hibs wide man drifted inside and along the 18 yard line before prodding a pass towards Nisbet. The ball arrived slightly behind Kevin, but he sorted his feet out quickly, took a touch and then flighted his finish over the diving Alnwick and in to the top corner. It was a goal of real quality and seemed to spark Hibs into life.
Two minutes after the opener, Newell took a quick free kick which allowed Boyle to fire a low cross into the six yard area. Ryan Porteous looked certain to score but a late touch by McCarthy saw the ball deflected wide of the target. Porteous was again involved but in his own box this time as a cleverly worked corner by St Mirren saw Richard Tait break free from the huddle and try to get a strike on goal. Porteous saw the danger and made a fine sliding clearance just as Tait shaped to shoot.
Next, the prolific Jamie McGrath looped a header in on goal, but Marciano was happy to see it drop over the bar. Boyle was next to have a go, but his low shot was easily saved by Alnwick. It hadn’t been a dirty game although I felt at times that referee Steven Kirkland ignored some valid claims by both sides for free kicks.
At half time, Kyle Magennis was replaced by Drey Wright whilst St. Mirren removed defender Richard Tait and replaced him with the tricky forward thinking player Ilkay Durmus. That move necessitated Brandon Mason moving to left back where he would struggle with the pace of Boyle and ultimately pay the penalty for bringing him down once too often.
The visitors tried to get back on the front foot and a MacPherson effort came close, but Hibs were soon back in it and a Newell drive missed to the keepers left. Poor control from Doidge allowed St Mirren to break and a lovely cross from the left reached the unmarked Durmus some six yards out but his header was miles off target. It was a warning shot, and it was duly heeded as Hibs defended well whenever St Mirren had the ball.
McCarthy and Boyle then missed decent half chances before Hibs were forced into a substitution. I’ve no idea what happened to him, but Marciano had to be replaced by Dillon Barnes just before the hour mark. Moments later, Boyle was racing clear of Mason and the St. Mirren defender hauled him back, earning a justified yellow card in the process.
Barnes saw his first real action some ten minutes into his tenure when MacPherson sent in a powerful low drive which the Hibs keeper dived to save and push the ball behind for a corner. Moments later, a high and hopeful ball over the top seemed to catch Porteous out of position but as Obika broke free, Porteous quickly recovered and forced the big striker to take the chance on quicker than he probably would have liked. Obika’s attempted lob sailed comfortably into the hands of the Hibs keeper.
Fine play down the Hibs right saw Boyle, Newell and Nisbet picking out Drey Wright around fifteen yards from goal. The Hibs man threw his left foot at the ball and hit a shot that was going horribly wide. As it was, the ball reached Nisbet who struck his effort into the side netting with the goal gaping. Cliff and Tam on Hibs TV were saying Kev was offside because the assistant referee raised his flag. In fact, Kev was onside, and the raised flag was to indicate a goal kick.
In an effort to salvage something from the game, Jim Goodwin made a rash of substitutions with all of those coming on being either forwards or attacking midfielders. This would be a real test for Hibs, but they defended stoutly and broke when they could. Some fine short passing out wide on the right witnessed Joe Newell going on an incredible mazy run that took him to the bye line whereupon he tried to squeeze an effort in at the near post, but Alnwick got a foot in to clear the effort.
Into the last ten minutes, Jack Ross replaced Kevin Nisbet with Jamie Gullan, a change that I confess confused me a little, unless Kev was injured in some way though there was no obvious sign of that. Just moments after Gullan’s arrival, St Mirren were reduced to ten men when Mason hauled down Boyle out wide on the right, earning a second yellow in the process. Just two minutes later, poor control by Doidge allowed Obika to break forward. Big Christian went with him and eventually stopped his forward progress by fouling him, earning himself a yellow card.
St Mirren were chucking the kitchen sink at Hibs now, but excellent defending was holding them at bay. Two minutes from time, Doidge flung an arm out, trying to protect the ball but catching Ernahon in the face. The ref seemed to hesitate at first but then produced a second yellow for Doidge. From the resultant free kick, Kyle McAllister blasted a shot well over the top to the relief of the Hibs wall and keeper. Deep in to the five added minutes, Melker Hallberg was replaced by Alex Gogic and Hibs were able to see out the game and collect three valuable points.
Whilst we were nowhere near as fluid in terms of attacking play than we had been against Dundee United, we denied St Mirren any real goalscoring opportunities and that was down to strong mentality as much as physical ability. The Paisley side arrived on the back of a long unbeaten run and so the end result was all the more pleasing. One downside on the night was the dismissal of Christian Doidge who will presumably now miss the trip to Ibrox on Boxing Day.
The players
Marciano – Rocky didn’t have a great deal to do and it was disappointing to see him have to leave the field injured. I understand his calf was tight so hopefully it was just a precaution.
McGinn – Paul just gets better and better in my view. He faced various different players down their left and not one of them got the better of him.
Porteous – Lee Erwin is a big and experienced unit, but Ryan had him on toast. Even when Obika came on, Ryan coped admirably. He was unlucky that what looked like a certain goal was denied him just as he went to poke the ball home.
Hanlon – As Tam McManus said in commentary, St Mirren playing with a lone striker allowed our centre backs more freedom to break forward. Porteous did it a bit more than Paul but it was mildly amusing to see Paul popping up on the left wing at one point.
Stevenson – I think it is safe to say that Lewis looks back to his best. He defended very well at left back and on a couple of occasions tucked in to clear the danger when our centre backs were exposed.
Boyle – Martin is one of two players I thought of giving my man of the match award to. He edges it because he was involved in the bulk of our positive play going forward and when called upon, he was back helping out the defence, especially in the last fifteen minutes or so.
Newell – Joe came remarkably close to getting my man of the match award and in fairness provided two of the three best bits of play tonight. In the first he was surrounded in the centre circle by three St Mirren players and yet managed to keep the ball attached to his foot as he wriggled away from them. The other occasion was that stunning run into the box in the second half.
Hallberg – For my money, nobody played badly tonight but in a weird kinda way I felt Melker was our poorest at times. On the plus side he covers a lot of ground and is good at offering an out ball to team mates.
Magennis – For the first twenty minutes or so I thought Kyle was on the periphery of things and I’m in the club that feels he’s wasted out wide. He did have one effort on goal, but it was a difficult chance, and his effort cleared the crossbar.
Nisbet – His goal was a thing of beauty, even if he did make it look easy. Jim Goodwin basically described it as a moment of quality and I ain’t going to disagree. His miss in the second half though, was horrendous!
Doidge – Not one of his better games, though he did fully occupy their central defenders. His booking was justified but his second booking was stupidity on his part in my opinion.
Wright – Drey has taken some stick on here, from myself included, but I thought there was more about him tonight and that he had a decent 45 minutes. Once or twice, he picked out a great pass and defensively he was in there fighting towards the end of the game. I hope that 45 minutes will help build his confidence.
Barnes – It can’t be easy for a keeper coming in cold like that but apart from one daft decision to come and punch the ball he did well and made one smart and necessary save.
Gullan – As I said earlier, I was puzzled by his introduction in place of Nisbet but having thought about it, maybe his instruction was to stretch them wide and when possible, take the ball into the corner.
Gogic – A late substitution but a necessary one as St Mirren bombarded us.
Jack Ross - Pleased with the effort of his players and with the outcome of the game.
Referee – First time I recall seeing Steven Kirkland and I thought he had a bit of an up and down 90 minutes.
It was the visitors that started the better of the two sides as Hibs seemed to struggle with their central two in midfield against the three of St. Mirren but having said that, St. Mirren didn’t really create anything of note. That was due at least in part to the fact that their final ball was poor but more so because Hibs were defending their goalmouth really well.
On the tenth minute mark, Cammy MacPherson tried his luck from distance, but his effort flew high and wide of Marciano’s goal. Against United, Hibs had dominated and created several scoring chances, but they were thinner on the ground tonight. A breakthrough did come however on the 18 minute mark when Newell picked out a clever run from Boyle. The Hibs wide man drifted inside and along the 18 yard line before prodding a pass towards Nisbet. The ball arrived slightly behind Kevin, but he sorted his feet out quickly, took a touch and then flighted his finish over the diving Alnwick and in to the top corner. It was a goal of real quality and seemed to spark Hibs into life.
Two minutes after the opener, Newell took a quick free kick which allowed Boyle to fire a low cross into the six yard area. Ryan Porteous looked certain to score but a late touch by McCarthy saw the ball deflected wide of the target. Porteous was again involved but in his own box this time as a cleverly worked corner by St Mirren saw Richard Tait break free from the huddle and try to get a strike on goal. Porteous saw the danger and made a fine sliding clearance just as Tait shaped to shoot.
Next, the prolific Jamie McGrath looped a header in on goal, but Marciano was happy to see it drop over the bar. Boyle was next to have a go, but his low shot was easily saved by Alnwick. It hadn’t been a dirty game although I felt at times that referee Steven Kirkland ignored some valid claims by both sides for free kicks.
At half time, Kyle Magennis was replaced by Drey Wright whilst St. Mirren removed defender Richard Tait and replaced him with the tricky forward thinking player Ilkay Durmus. That move necessitated Brandon Mason moving to left back where he would struggle with the pace of Boyle and ultimately pay the penalty for bringing him down once too often.
The visitors tried to get back on the front foot and a MacPherson effort came close, but Hibs were soon back in it and a Newell drive missed to the keepers left. Poor control from Doidge allowed St Mirren to break and a lovely cross from the left reached the unmarked Durmus some six yards out but his header was miles off target. It was a warning shot, and it was duly heeded as Hibs defended well whenever St Mirren had the ball.
McCarthy and Boyle then missed decent half chances before Hibs were forced into a substitution. I’ve no idea what happened to him, but Marciano had to be replaced by Dillon Barnes just before the hour mark. Moments later, Boyle was racing clear of Mason and the St. Mirren defender hauled him back, earning a justified yellow card in the process.
Barnes saw his first real action some ten minutes into his tenure when MacPherson sent in a powerful low drive which the Hibs keeper dived to save and push the ball behind for a corner. Moments later, a high and hopeful ball over the top seemed to catch Porteous out of position but as Obika broke free, Porteous quickly recovered and forced the big striker to take the chance on quicker than he probably would have liked. Obika’s attempted lob sailed comfortably into the hands of the Hibs keeper.
Fine play down the Hibs right saw Boyle, Newell and Nisbet picking out Drey Wright around fifteen yards from goal. The Hibs man threw his left foot at the ball and hit a shot that was going horribly wide. As it was, the ball reached Nisbet who struck his effort into the side netting with the goal gaping. Cliff and Tam on Hibs TV were saying Kev was offside because the assistant referee raised his flag. In fact, Kev was onside, and the raised flag was to indicate a goal kick.
In an effort to salvage something from the game, Jim Goodwin made a rash of substitutions with all of those coming on being either forwards or attacking midfielders. This would be a real test for Hibs, but they defended stoutly and broke when they could. Some fine short passing out wide on the right witnessed Joe Newell going on an incredible mazy run that took him to the bye line whereupon he tried to squeeze an effort in at the near post, but Alnwick got a foot in to clear the effort.
Into the last ten minutes, Jack Ross replaced Kevin Nisbet with Jamie Gullan, a change that I confess confused me a little, unless Kev was injured in some way though there was no obvious sign of that. Just moments after Gullan’s arrival, St Mirren were reduced to ten men when Mason hauled down Boyle out wide on the right, earning a second yellow in the process. Just two minutes later, poor control by Doidge allowed Obika to break forward. Big Christian went with him and eventually stopped his forward progress by fouling him, earning himself a yellow card.
St Mirren were chucking the kitchen sink at Hibs now, but excellent defending was holding them at bay. Two minutes from time, Doidge flung an arm out, trying to protect the ball but catching Ernahon in the face. The ref seemed to hesitate at first but then produced a second yellow for Doidge. From the resultant free kick, Kyle McAllister blasted a shot well over the top to the relief of the Hibs wall and keeper. Deep in to the five added minutes, Melker Hallberg was replaced by Alex Gogic and Hibs were able to see out the game and collect three valuable points.
Whilst we were nowhere near as fluid in terms of attacking play than we had been against Dundee United, we denied St Mirren any real goalscoring opportunities and that was down to strong mentality as much as physical ability. The Paisley side arrived on the back of a long unbeaten run and so the end result was all the more pleasing. One downside on the night was the dismissal of Christian Doidge who will presumably now miss the trip to Ibrox on Boxing Day.
The players
Marciano – Rocky didn’t have a great deal to do and it was disappointing to see him have to leave the field injured. I understand his calf was tight so hopefully it was just a precaution.
McGinn – Paul just gets better and better in my view. He faced various different players down their left and not one of them got the better of him.
Porteous – Lee Erwin is a big and experienced unit, but Ryan had him on toast. Even when Obika came on, Ryan coped admirably. He was unlucky that what looked like a certain goal was denied him just as he went to poke the ball home.
Hanlon – As Tam McManus said in commentary, St Mirren playing with a lone striker allowed our centre backs more freedom to break forward. Porteous did it a bit more than Paul but it was mildly amusing to see Paul popping up on the left wing at one point.
Stevenson – I think it is safe to say that Lewis looks back to his best. He defended very well at left back and on a couple of occasions tucked in to clear the danger when our centre backs were exposed.
Boyle – Martin is one of two players I thought of giving my man of the match award to. He edges it because he was involved in the bulk of our positive play going forward and when called upon, he was back helping out the defence, especially in the last fifteen minutes or so.
Newell – Joe came remarkably close to getting my man of the match award and in fairness provided two of the three best bits of play tonight. In the first he was surrounded in the centre circle by three St Mirren players and yet managed to keep the ball attached to his foot as he wriggled away from them. The other occasion was that stunning run into the box in the second half.
Hallberg – For my money, nobody played badly tonight but in a weird kinda way I felt Melker was our poorest at times. On the plus side he covers a lot of ground and is good at offering an out ball to team mates.
Magennis – For the first twenty minutes or so I thought Kyle was on the periphery of things and I’m in the club that feels he’s wasted out wide. He did have one effort on goal, but it was a difficult chance, and his effort cleared the crossbar.
Nisbet – His goal was a thing of beauty, even if he did make it look easy. Jim Goodwin basically described it as a moment of quality and I ain’t going to disagree. His miss in the second half though, was horrendous!
Doidge – Not one of his better games, though he did fully occupy their central defenders. His booking was justified but his second booking was stupidity on his part in my opinion.
Wright – Drey has taken some stick on here, from myself included, but I thought there was more about him tonight and that he had a decent 45 minutes. Once or twice, he picked out a great pass and defensively he was in there fighting towards the end of the game. I hope that 45 minutes will help build his confidence.
Barnes – It can’t be easy for a keeper coming in cold like that but apart from one daft decision to come and punch the ball he did well and made one smart and necessary save.
Gullan – As I said earlier, I was puzzled by his introduction in place of Nisbet but having thought about it, maybe his instruction was to stretch them wide and when possible, take the ball into the corner.
Gogic – A late substitution but a necessary one as St Mirren bombarded us.
Jack Ross - Pleased with the effort of his players and with the outcome of the game.
Referee – First time I recall seeing Steven Kirkland and I thought he had a bit of an up and down 90 minutes.