14/05/2025 – HIBS (H)

Following an absolutely epic battle with Hibs on Wednesday, we were struck a blow in our battle for European football, but it is not yet fatal, and our season moves onto the final game, at Parkhead on Saturday.

The way things turned out elsewhere, as most expected, meant victory over the Hibees would have put us above Dundee Utd and within touching distance of Aberdeen in fourth place going into the game against Celtic.

Despite a monumental effort from the players, however, we could only draw against Hibs, meaning we need to take something from the match at Parkhead and hope a seriously off-form Aberdeen can beat Dundee Utd, or we win the match if this game is drawn at Tannadice.

The odds are now even greater for our hopes of European football, but to still be in there with a chance on the final day, despite starting the post split games nine points adrift, is quite an incredible achievement. No matter what happens now, we should be proud of the team.

Any disappointment at not beating Hibs to put us in the driving seat, didn’t last long. The match was a sensational, titanic struggle, with Hibs starting like a hurricane carrying nuclear weapons and blew Saints away with 2 goals in the opening 10 minutes.

Saints looked in deep trouble, and struggled to cope with the pace of Hibs and sheer intensity of their press, however it is impossible for players to keep that up, and once the Hibees started to tire after half an hour, Saints finally began to assert themselves.

Richard Taylor, who had a very unsteady opening to the game, thrashed home a vital goal from a Marcus Fraser knockdown 4 minutes into first half added time, and the game was very much on. Taylor would be immense in the second half, we should add.

After a period of pressure, Saints equalised after 64 minutes with a brilliant flowing move. Roland Idowu had by then shifted from central midfield to left wing, and he evaded Lewis Miller with ease from a Tanser pass, and fired in a cross that substitute Conor McMenamin slid in and volleyed home.

There looked only winner from now, and Saints laid siege to the visitors goal. Mikael Mandron looked to have put us in front only six minutes after the equaliser when he slotted home from 30 yards after the Hibs keeper had just beat McMenamin to an O’Hara pass on the edge of the box.

As the roof almost come off the stadium, referee Chris Graham halted the celebrations by indicating it was a free kick to Hibs. Utter confusion followed as the expected VAR check never materialised, and a free kick was given to the visitors inside Saints half, some 40 yards from where the action took place.

Nobody knew what was going on, and it took several hours after the match to discover that the referee had blown the whistle for a free kick to Hibs for an incident 20 seconds before as the ball was heading into the net, all at the instruction of the 4th official.

This meant VAR couldn’t check the validity of this goal as the play was ended by this whistle before the goal was scored, which is totally against SFA protocols. Replays would show there was a free kick to Hibs, however as the referee didn’t allow the VAR check, nobody in the stadium knew what was happening!

Undeterred, Saints continued to push. Kiltie brought out a save from Smith at his near post and McMenamin hit the other post with a later effort, but an incredible match finished 2-2, and at full time, most of the players on the park fell to the ground such was the monumental shift they had put in.

Both sets of fans applauded their players on a rare occasion nobody was really unhappy with the result at the end, even if there was some resent from Saints regarding that disallowed goal.

This leaves our match at Parkhead, in what is “flag day” for Celtic. We played this very fixture last season and lost 3-2 to a very late home goal, a minute after Mikael Mandron almost had his shirt pulled over his head at a corner kick, but was “missed” by the referee, assistant referee and VAR. Oh, and the 4th official, we need to include them now they are disallowing goals.

It’s a very hard task getting anything from Parkhead, but it’s not impossible. Just ask Ilkay Durmus or Gunni Torfason.

The players will give absolutely everything to achieve the result for our club and town, we know this before a ball is kicked. If you can make it, please get along and roar our heroes on, they deserve it.

COYS!

Hibs Players of the Match:

5 points – Ryan Alebiosu

3 points – Killian Phillips

1 point – Marcus Fraser

Check our the Player of the Season race here –

PLAYER OF THE SEASON