This is how it feels (St Johnstone 09 11 19)

[Jonnyboy]

Apologies for the lateness, I went straight from the match to a dinner party for my young niece. Needless to say that whilst I enjoyed the family get together I was desperate to get home to write up my thoughts following this afternoon’s stunning 4-1 victory in Perth.

On the way North, I discussed with my brother what changes Eddie May would make to both personnel and game plan. We agreed that if Hibs are to move upwards, both were needed and as it turned out both were delivered, in spades.

There were five changes to the team that had started against Celtic at Hampden. Porteous returned following his suspension whist Naismith was preferred to James at right back. In midfield, Horgan and Mallan dropped to the bench whilst Vela wasn’t even in the squad. Up front, Doidge was given the striking partner we’ve all been shouting about for ages although it has to be said that Kamberi played mainly on the left between midfield and attack. A further change saw Oli Shaw named amongst the substitutes.

The home side came out of the traps from the word go but were stunned after just a couple of minutes when clever play down the Hibs left saw Kamberi roll the ball to Doidge. The big striker took a touch and got his shot away which Clark saved but could not hold and the Hibs number 9 pounced to sweep the ball into the net. Soon after, Newell who seemed to have been given a roving role, picked the ball up on the left side of St Johnstone’s 18 yard box. A fine touch saw him transfer the ball to his left foot and his curling effort beat Clark but crashed against the post before being cleared.

It was obvious even at this early point in the match that Hibs were playing with a freedom that was never evident under the departed Heckingbottom. I’ve said before and I know others share my view, that Hibs players under Heckingbottom were overloaded with instructions on how to play the game. That may have worked on the blackboard or even Football Manager but in the real world the overload meant our play was often stifled. In Perth we were playing with a freedom and it showed up to good effect.

Not long after Naismith had come close, the movement of Kamberi, which was both a joy to watch and a nightmare for opposing defenders led to a second goal. Flo engineered some space wide on the right and sent a low cross into the box where Doidge was on hand to double both his tally and Hibs’ lead. This was brilliant stuff and the large travelling support was lapping it up.

The hosts were struggling to gain a foothold and their persistence in playing the ball wide to either Wright or Kennedy brought them little reward with both Hibs full backs handling the threat. Another couple of half chances might have produced a third goal whilst Kerr headed wide at the other end. Doidge then just failed to reach a low ball across the box before St Johnstone seemed to up their game for the last ten minutes of the first half without ever really looking like they might score. The defence looked solid and was well guarded by both Slivka and Hallberg in particular.

Just three minutes into the second half, Scott Allan robbed Kennedy of the ball around the half way line and set off for goal. After shrugging off a couple of challenges, Allan sent a left foot shot across the diving Clark’s body and into the net at the far post. It was a lovely goal and demonstrated Scotty’s footballing brain to a tee as other players might have been tempted to pass the ball on to Kamberi but Allan knew his team mate was offside and so resisted the temptation.

Kamberi was having a fine game and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet when Clark had to look smart to prevent the Hibs man from doing so. The visitors were totally dominant at this point and scored a fourth just ten minutes after the third. This came about when Hibs were swarming around the St Johnstone penalty area and a couple of fine passes saw Naismith out wide on the right. The full back sent in a great cross and Doidge climbed above his marker to powerfully head the ball home for a magnificent hat trick.

The job was clearly done now and Hibs contented themselves with keeping possession and repelling any attacks by the hosts.

With around ten minutes left, Doidge was replaced by Boyle and I witnessed something I never thought I’d ever see when to a man/woman/child the Hibs support rose as one to give the big fella a tumultuous and well merited standing ovation. I’ll digress slightly here and say the delight of Doidge’s team mates was clearly evident after the scoring of each of his three goals. The big man is popular with his team mates and I’ll bet he’s walking on air tonight.

Efforts from both Allan and Newell didn’t add to the tally and a little disappointingly, Hibs conceded a late goal to Stevie May when a clean sheet would have been a just reward for their efforts.

Just when we see the real Hibs, another of those annoying international breaks comes along but after today’s efforts it’s hard to grudge the players a bit of downtime.

The players

Unsurprisingly, my reviews will be positive because there were no failures today.

Maxwell – In truth, he had little to do against a St Johnstone side that was pretty toothless. As to the goal conceded, no blame can be attached to him.

Naismith – One of a few of our players that has been getting criticism on the messageboard but there should be none of that tonight as he was solid throughout and dealt well with the trickery of Kennedy.

Porteous – As seems to be the norm there were a couple of slack moments when passes went astray but that’s as nothing when compared to the commanding performance he gave at centre back and particularly in the air.

Hanlon – Our captain was much more like the player we know he can be. Paul was alert from the off and never really did anything to cause concern.

Stevenson – Lewis coped really well with the St Johnstone threat down his side and like Naismith, got forward far more often than he ever did under Heckingbottom.

Newell – I’ll be honest and say I was surprised he was selected but the truth is that apart from a couple of spells in the game he was alert and creative, making some cracking runs and weighing in with a fair few challenges. Easily his best game to date.

Allan – Scotty often gets frustrated when team mates don’t make runs to give him options but today there were plenty of runners and by and large he found them. His goal was brilliant in execution and, as stated earlier, brilliant in understanding the situation around him.

Slivka – Viki is another who often comes in for criticism and sometimes it is justified but I don’t think he should draw any criticism tonight after a fine performance.

Hallberg – Melker just gets better and better and today he was an important part in the victory as he shielded the back four well whilst still getting forward when he could and picking out a number of fine passes.

Kamberi – I thought that everything good today involved Flo in one way or another. He was simply immense and if anybody deserved a goal for his efforts today it was him.

Doidge – I sincerely hope that the monkey is now well and truly off his back. He took all three goals well and importantly linked up well with his team mates, particularly Kamberi. Scoring a hat trick and giving an all-round fine display, I can’t really give my man of the match award to anyone else.

Boyle – Another ten minutes under his belt and it is worth mentioning his clever feet made that late chance for Newell.

Horgan – Daryl was only on for a few minutes so it’s hard to critique his contribution.

Mallan – Exactly the same review as given to Horgan.

Eddie May – Spoke well after the game and as I was sitting quite close to the dugout I’m astonished he could speak at all because he roared his way through the ninety minutes (to good effect!!)

The fans – I thought the support was brilliant today.

Andrew Dallas – Managed to annoy both sets of fans and if I’d had the chance to interview him after the game I’d ask him why Murray Davidson was not sent off. Put together a huge collection of fouls and a shove on Alan Combe in front of the fourth official and that adds up to red in my view.

[FifeHibs]

One of the best performances in years, on a ground that we have struggles to take points in previous seasons.

Roll on the good times again.

11 heros on the pitch today.

[Bostonhibby]

Cheers for that JB, a fair reflection of what I watched on Alba. Any chance you could re-do it in Gaelic though just for a proper comparison

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[stuart-farquhar]

It was a decent performance. The passing was good.Bit more effort in the tackles. Basics done.

Showed what we can do against lower table teams.

We simply couldn't do that a fortnight ago.

[Sammy7nil]

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Cheers for that JB, a fair reflection of what I watched on Alba. Any chance you could re-do it in Gaelic though just for a proper comparison

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Anseo anseo

[Onceinawhile]

Having watched it in alba, only thing I'd say is that Doidge was massively lucky with the first goal. Had the whole area to aim at and hit it weakly at the keeper. Thankfully he put the rebound away.

Fingers crossed that's the end of the sitter missing.

[CloudSquall]

Living abroad so I always appreciate the posts, merci!

[Moody Blues]

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Having watched it in alba, only thing I'd say is that Doidge was massively lucky with the first goal. Had the whole area to aim at and hit it weakly at the keeper. Thankfully he put the rebound away.

Fingers crossed that's the end of the sitter missing.

Go and have aword with yourself, with that comment.

[Mr Grieves]

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Having watched it in alba, only thing I'd say is that Doidge was massively lucky with the first goal. Had the whole area to aim at and hit it weakly at the keeper. Thankfully he put the rebound away.

Fingers crossed that's the end of the sitter missing.

[FifeHibs]

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Go and have aword with yourself, with that comment.

What os wrong with that comment?

[Hermit Crab]

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Go and have aword with yourself, with that comment.

To be fair he is right, Doidge should have burst the next with his first attempt and was lucky to get he rebound.

[Fife-Hibee]

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To be fair he is right, Doidge should have burst the next with his first attempt and was lucky to get he rebound.

Luck balances itself out over the season. Look how lucky Hertz were.

[Unseen work]

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Having watched it in alba, only thing I'd say is that Doidge was massively lucky with the first goal. Had the whole area to aim at and hit it weakly at the keeper. Thankfully he put the rebound away.

Fingers crossed that's the end of the sitter missing.

Agree with this it was a sitter but thankfully he put it away so let’s forget about that and he kicked on another 2. Hopefully this was the lucky break he needed to get going.

[judas]

Thanks again for this

[Fuzzywuzzy]

Why was Davidson mixing it up with Combe?

[Killiehibbie]

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Having watched it in alba, only thing I'd say is that Doidge was massively lucky with the first goal. Had the whole area to aim at and hit it weakly at the keeper. Thankfully he put the rebound away.

Fingers crossed that's the end of the sitter missing.

A lucky bounce off the defender that fell to Kamberi before he showed great skill for the second. When all the luck has been bad i'll take a few more bits of good fortune.

[Brunswickbill]

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Having watched it in alba, only thing I'd say is that Doidge was massively lucky with the first goal. Had the whole area to aim at and hit it weakly at the keeper. Thankfully he put the rebound away.

Fingers crossed that's the end of the sitter missing.

He was lucky to be in a position to be on the end of the pass. He was lucky to be able to shoot first time. He was lucky that the goalkeeper couldn’t hold the shot. He was lucky to collect the rebound. He was lucky to put the ball in the back of the net. Truly a lucky guy.

[Sammy7nil]

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Go and have aword with yourself, with that comment.

Nothing wrong with the comment it is true.

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He was lucky to be in a position to be on the end of the pass. He was lucky to be able to shoot first time. He was lucky that the goalkeeper couldn’t hold the shot. He was lucky to collect the rebound. He was lucky to put the ball in the back of the net. Truly a lucky guy.

He was lucky it was a weak shot and lucky it broke very kindly for him that is true. The rest may or may
Not be

[CLASS OF 72 -73]

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Go and have aword with yourself, with that comment.

Just because we won and won well its still okay to highlight a negative fact. The shot was weak and should easily have been held. Doidge got lucky but he's due a break .

[BILLYHIBS]

Many thanks for posting once again Jonnyboy

Reading this this morning confirmed to me that I hadn’t dreamt it or made it up

Yes HIBS won 4-1 in Perth and yes the Big Man scored a hatrick and was voted MOM

GGTTH

[Hibby Kay-Yay]

Doidge may turn out to be our Cosgrove. Here’s hoping he does.

[bigwheel]

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Doidge may turn out to be our Cosgrove. Here’s hoping he does.

Hope so. Cosgrove went about a whole season before starting to contribute...Doidge has always been a handful..if he adds goals, he will do for me

[Tarrahib]

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Many thanks for posting once again Jonnyboy

Reading this this morning confirmed to me that I hadn’t dreamt it or made it up

Yes HIBS won 4-1 in Perth and yes the Big Man scored a hatrick and was voted MOM

GGTTH

My only comment is that I would have liked to see Shaw replace Doidge when he went off to his round of applause.The game was done and there would have been no pressure on the lad.
But hey !!

[B.H.F.C]

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Allan – Scotty often gets frustrated when team mates don’t make runs to give him options but today there were plenty of runners and by and large he found them. His goal was brilliant in execution and, as stated earlier, brilliant in understanding the situation around him.

I liked the fact that Allan was moaning at pretty much everybody for the full game yesterday. Over the last few weeks he’s looked fed up, frustrated with things or whatever you want to call it. Yesterday he was demanding the ball and wasn’t happy when he didn’t get it or a pass was misplaced. That’s how we need him to be.

Was also noticeable that, 3 or 4 times during the game, it was him that the bench were shouting over to pass on instruction. If we get things together Allan can be a real leader in this team.

[Nicho87]

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I liked the fact that Allan was moaning at pretty much everybody for the full game yesterday. Over the last few weeks he’s looked fed up, frustrated with things or whatever you want to call it. Yesterday he was demanding the ball and wasn’t happy when he didn’t get it or a pass was misplaced. That’s how we need him to be.

Was also noticeable that, 3 or 4 times during the game, it was him that the bench were shouting over to pass on instruction. If we get things together Allan can be a real leader in this team.

Noticed this at the livi game Allan was very vocal. Potential captain. Why not.

[Greenbeard]

Key words "playing with freedom" and "runners" were very evident, esp the first 30mins. Great performance, great result. But whilst enjoying our improved fortunes (inc, to back up others, the lucky rebound falling to Doidge for his first when he really should have buried the first attempt), let's not get too carried away 'cos Saints are pretty crap. Also, if Clark was our goalie he'd be getting pelters on here.

[Peevemor]

Did Doidge try to put the first shot through the keeper's legs?

[BILLYHIBS]

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My only comment is that I would have liked to see Shaw replace Doidge when he went off to his round of applause.The game was done and there would have been no pressure on the lad.
But hey !!

We we need a revitalised Olly Shaw and the boy needs to feel wanted

Everyone starts with a clean slate and a chance for Olly to show us what he is really all about and provides a different option to Flo or Doidge up front

[HFC 0-7]

The way that the played 2 up front with out wide often reminded me of how Lennon set us up at times.

[Arch Stanton]

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Nothing wrong with the comment it is true.



He was lucky it was a weak shot and lucky it broke very kindly for him that is true. The rest may or may
Not be

Hardly weak if the keeper couldn't handle it. Balls break off outfield players, not goalies.