Saints1 Hibernian 0
St Mirren returned to winning ways this afternoon with an unfashionable victory at home to relegation strugglers Hibernian. Following the Dunfermline disappointment last Saturday Danny Lennon questioned his team’s desire to finish in 7th position, and they answered him with a well deserved three points. A win was vital to boost confidence and edge closer towards Kilmarnock in that coveted 7th spot. Lennon made one change from last week, Dougie Imrie dropping to the bench while the fully fit Jeroen Tesslaar slotted in at left back.
In stark contrast to last week, the game took a large period of time to properly swing into life. St Mirren absorbed the early Hibs pressure effectively, with Jim Goodwin looking far more like his old self enforcing the midfield. It was Saints who created the first clear-cut chance of the match. Steven Thompson was given the freedom of Paisley in the Hibs penalty area, however powered his header just wide from a Graham Carey corner.
Hibs attempted to turn possession into goals, and a slide rule ball sent Eoin Doyle through on goal, and fired wide past an onrushing Samson who was quite frankly in no-man’s land. Griffiths was the next closest for Hibs with a thunderous swerved effort, however Samson had the shot covered.
In a largely dour first half, Nigel Hasselbaink was the sole source of creativity for Saints. His energetic play down the left posed various problems for Hibs, least of all to former Saints target James McPake. The defender’s messianic status amongst the Hibs support bemused many in an under par performance.
Saints started the second half brightly. Kenny McLean’s deflected shot set the scene for later events, but on this occasion was dealt with comfortably by Mark Brown in the Hibernian goal. Last week saw Steven Thompson’s strengths utilised from crosses. The Buddies attempts to enforce this tactic were foiled by decent blocks from the Hibs defence, however in most the cases the crossing was largely ineffective.
Hibs created the best chance of the entire game on 59 minutes. Lee Mair gifted the ball to Hibs’ striker Doyle, who left the centre back for dead before producing a wonder save from Samson. The Irishman looked a certainty to score however the reflexes from Sammy show just how valuable and indeed underrated an asset he is to our defence.
Danny made a double substitution soon after; Dougie Imrie and Steven Thomson replacing Graham Carey and Nigel Hasselbaink respectively. Nigel’s withdrawal produced boos from the home support as he had been more creative than most, and at this point offered the most potent goal threat.
In stark contrast to last week, the game took a large period of time to properly swing into life. St Mirren absorbed the early Hibs pressure effectively, with Jim Goodwin looking far more like his old self enforcing the midfield. It was Saints who created the first clear-cut chance of the match. Steven Thompson was given the freedom of Paisley in the Hibs penalty area, however powered his header just wide from a Graham Carey corner.
Hibs attempted to turn possession into goals, and a slide rule ball sent Eoin Doyle through on goal, and fired wide past an onrushing Samson who was quite frankly in no-man’s land. Griffiths was the next closest for Hibs with a thunderous swerved effort, however Samson had the shot covered.
In a largely dour first half, Nigel Hasselbaink was the sole source of creativity for Saints. His energetic play down the left posed various problems for Hibs, least of all to former Saints target James McPake. The defender’s messianic status amongst the Hibs support bemused many in an under par performance.
Saints started the second half brightly. Kenny McLean’s deflected shot set the scene for later events, but on this occasion was dealt with comfortably by Mark Brown in the Hibernian goal. Last week saw Steven Thompson’s strengths utilised from crosses. The Buddies attempts to enforce this tactic were foiled by decent blocks from the Hibs defence, however in most the cases the crossing was largely ineffective.
Hibs created the best chance of the entire game on 59 minutes. Lee Mair gifted the ball to Hibs’ striker Doyle, who left the centre back for dead before producing a wonder save from Samson. The Irishman looked a certainty to score however the reflexes from Sammy show just how valuable and indeed underrated an asset he is to our defence.
Danny made a double substitution soon after; Dougie Imrie and Steven Thomson replacing Graham Carey and Nigel Hasselbaink respectively. Nigel’s withdrawal produced boos from the home support as he had been more creative than most, and at this point offered the most potent goal threat.
However the boos turned to cheers 5 minutes later. Tesselaar collected the ball on the half way line and sprinted down the left hand side. The Dutchman then skipped over a challenge before squaring the ball to Kenny McLean. McLean’s first time curled shot sailed into the far bottom corner to open the scoring. The goal was very much against the run of play, however never undeserved given the quality of the run and finish.
Imrie’s introduction benefited Saints by enforcing a last ditch tackle on Leigh Griffiths just as the youngster was about to pull the trigger. The change in Imrie since his Hamilton days is incredible. The once petulant, dishonest tendencies of his game have disappeared almost overnight - which says much about Lennon’s man management as it does Dougie for his willingness to adapt his game more effectively.
Saints continued to rebuff any pressure from the Leith men as the clock ran down. The match ended with two red cards. Marc McAusland was shown a second yellow card for preventing Griffiths from tearing through on goal. You couldn’t argue with the decision; however there was no yellow for Isaiah Osbourne for fouling Nigel in the same circumstances in the first half. Hibs must have felt guilty at the disparity, so Lewis Stevenson very kindly evened up the numbers by scything down McGowan, and received a second yellow also as Hibs lost the rag. Osbourne rugby tackled Imrie as the game drew to a close, however Dougie showed a great deal of control to walk away from the incident.
St Mirren saw the game out effectively on this occasion, and no one can say the Buddies didn’t deserve the victory. The clean sheet and retention of the lead is as pleasing as the result itself. Although we didn’t see the free-scoring Saints this week, the three points is satisfactory, and the performances of Tesslaar and Imrie were tremendous. Saints overcame a battering wind, some inconsistent refereeing and a foul-happy Hibernian side to draw us level on points with Aberdeen. And above all, it was just nice to win when we deserved to for a wee change.