Hibs suffered a self-inflicted defeat to Craig Levein’s St Johnstone in Perth, as Nick Montgomery’s men gifted the home side the only goal of a fairly rotten contest at McDiarmid Park. A moment of madness from Dylan Levitt just before the hour mark, the midfielder taking a short goal kick and passing the ball straight to Saints scorer Graham Carey, was enough to separate the sides.
A second defeat in three league games sees Hibs drop to sixth in the Scottish Premiership. And they could hardly argue that they deserved anything from an afternoon when they were kept firmly in check by Saints. At least Hibs saw a late red card for Dylan Vente overturned by VAR. But that was about the only positive they could take from a dispiriting away day.
With Lewis Miller back from injury and restored to the starting line-up, and Jimmy Jeggo deputising for the suspended Joe Newell, the visitors lined up in a familiar enough shape. Clearly, their intent was to pull and stretch St Johnstone’s back five from side to side, desperately hoping to create a gap that might be exploited.
The problem, which became apparent very early on, lay in the home side’s unwillingness to cooperate. Under Craig Levein, Saints are nothing if not solid. Bordering on the immovable.
In a first half when the hosts actually thought they’d taken the lead from a corner, only for ref Graham Grainger to signal immediately for offside, a decision verified by VAR, there was little in the way of scintillating football. A Jair Tavares shot wide of target was about as good as it got for the Hibees.
Without doing anything overly ambitious, St Johnstone found themselves forcing half chances out of Hibs. Matt Smith’s shot wide of target, following a weak defensive header from Paul Hanlon, rather summed up the contest.
Miller was replaced by the versatile Josh Campbell at half-time, the man of many positions making a second appearance at right back. By the time Montgomery made his second substitution, with 55 minutes on the clock, the home side had seized the initiative.
Were it not for a couple of brilliant stops by David Marshall, Max Kucheriavi would have had a neat double to show for his well-time runs and solid connections inside the Hibs penalty box. The visitors, who had come close when a Martin Boyle free-kick from the left corner flag nearly crept in at the far post, suddenly looked under stress.
In need of composure and accuracy, they instead handed even more initiative to hosts who needed no second invitation, as Levitt took a short goal kick from Marshall … and delivered the ball straight to a waiting Carey. The Saints player took a couple of big strides forward before rattling a shot beyond a rooted goalie.
Former Scotland No. 1 Marshall had to be on top form to deny Fran Franczak a goal from a free header not long after the opener. Small mercies, as Hibs clung on – and Montgomery shuffled his pack, removing Levitt from the firing line and throwing Christian Doidge into the attack. All to no avail.
1. GK David Marshall 7/10
This could have been a lot worse, without the former Scotland goalie there to make a couple of outstanding saves. Photo: Ross Parker - SNS Group
2. RB Lewis Miller 5/10
Booked and struggled before being replaced at half-time by Josh Campbell.
3. CB Will Fish 6/10
He’s not the problem. Didn’t make any major mistakes, which is not something that could be said of every Hibs player.
4. CB Paul Hanlon 6/10
Had looked solid enough until replaced by Bushiri after 54 minutes.