09/11/2024 – HIBS (A)

Well, that was brilliant!

Our first away win of the season was something we will remember for a long time, not just for the brilliant way our players went about their business, dominating the match for 95 of the 97 minutes played (2 mins added in first half and 5 in the second half) but for those last couple of minutes deep into added time where certain victory was at first doubted, then lost, and then won again, even by Saints standards it was remarkable!

Before we get that far though, we need to evaluate the quality of Saints performance throughout the game at Easter Road, in our opinion the best we have played this season so far, and further proof we have just not turned a corner but are now firmly on course for another top 6 challenge.

The energy from the team was astounding, exemplified by our Irish midfielder and number 88, leading to our first observation, KILLIAN PHILLIPS IS PROBABLY SUPERHUMAN.

The big midfielder was simply everywhere. If he wasn’t making tackles, bombing forward or winning headers, he was spraying the ball about and generally just looking like an absolute giant on the park. Hibs players must have been petrified.

Goalkeeping Coach, Jamie Langfield, joked on twitter/X that Phillips ran home from Edinburgh, but we’re convinced we witnessed him burst into a series of rapid star jumps and push-ups during a VAR check, just to keep ticking over.

He wasn’t alone in central midfield however, and Mark O’Hara also had a phenomenal match, returning to his very best as Saints begin to click into gear for the season, and we are very excited to see how this midfield duo develop now we have our two wide players back and fully fit.

One of these players, Greg Kiltie has been back for a month or so now, and his influence has been key to the turnaround in form. Stephen Robinson stated after the game on Saturday that the last 4 matches have been “more like St Mirren” and it’s no coincidence Kiltie returned the week prior to this short burst of matches, and has started every one of these 4 games.

However, it was his wing partner that stole the headlines on Saturday, with Conor McMenamin scoring twice, in what was his first start for the club this season. Which leads us to the second thing we learned from the weekend, WE ARE MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE WITH WINGERS.

Probably sounds obvious after a win where a winger scores twice, however these last 4 games that Stephen Robinson refers to are the only ones this campaign we’ve had a return to the 3-4-3 formation that was so successful last season. It’s no coincidence in our opinion.

Conor has had injury issues since joining the club, and played for much of last season carrying a historical problem that required an operation. He probably hasn’t been at his best or shown justice to his undoubted ability since joining the club due to this, but we may now be about to see the best of the Irish winger. To use a cliché, it is going to be like having a new player available.

Genuinely though, it was hard to pick the highlights from Saturday so good was the team, and that’s the way we like it. However, despite being 2-0 up and so comfortable for the first 95 minutes where it looked like Hibs could play all weekend and not score, we somehow almost drew the match with as crazy a last 2 minutes we will probably see this season.

This leads us to our final observation from the weekend, something we all knew anyway, but it has to be said nonetheless, WE NEVER DO IT THE EASY WAY.

When Hibs were awarded their second penalty of the day, around 3 minutes of the 5 had been added on already, and the majority of home fans had long left for the pub or to walk home.

The small ripple of applause that greeted the conversion of the penalty from Hibs remaining support, probably summed up how they felt about it, a pointless consolation goal. If only they could have felt the nervousness in the away end!

Saints kicked off by giving the ball straight back to Hibs, and the groans got louder. 20 seconds or so later, and the ball was in the net again, it was classic St Mirren. Or was it?

As Hibs celebrated what they thought was the most unlikely equaliser, a VAR checked was announced for possible offside. Now, we always think its better being at a match if you can make it, as opposed to watching on TV, apart from with VAR decisions that is.

At the match we were blissfully unaware that it was quite clearly offside, something those watching on TV would probably have worked out quite early on. In the stands, a roar went up from the Hibs support about 2 minutes into the VAR check, and it looked like we had blown it and the goal stood.

However, the VAR check continued to the puzzlement of us all and eventually the referee signalled for offside, which was treated like a goal by the away support, confusing many fans who had already left the ground. In fact some Saints fans heading back to their car, we are told on good authority, believed Hibs were 3-2 up with that roar!

Such is the way with Saints however, and the 2-1 win was very well deserved and actually flattered Hibs massively, such was the gulf between the teams on the day.

We now go into an international break on a high, in the top 6 and in good form. It’s always great being a Buddie of course, but we’ll have an extra wee step in our stride for the next fortnight thanks to that brilliant performance at Easter Road.

Enjoy the break!

Want to 4 tickets for our home match v Dundee on the 29th December and £87 credit for Legacy Comps, where you can win cash and other prizes? Just scroll down to see how to enter.

Hibs Players of the Match:

5 points – Killian Phillips

3 points – Conor McMenamin

1 point – Mark O’Hara