Hibs passed up a glorious chance to leapfrog Falkirk into second place in the Championship this afternoon when they were held to a 1-1 draw against St Mirren at Easter Road.
The players went into the game knowing that a victory would see them overtake the Bairns who drew 0-0 with Queen of the South last night, but it was not to be.
Head Coach Alan Stubbs made one change to the starting XI that beat table topping Aberdeen on Wednesday night with ex St Mirren defender Darren McGregor making way for Marvin Bartley as Hibs reverted to their trusted 4-1-3-2 formation. John McGinn retained his place in midfield against his former club but there was no place for goal scorer Dominique Malonga.
St Mirren had former Hibs’ captain Ian Murray in the away dugout with Keith Watson who spent part of last season on loan at Easter Road in the defence alongside former Hearts’ star Andy Webster,
The Hibs’ fans arrived in confident mood, having won their last six home games without conceding a goal and dominated the first quarter of an hour without creating any clear cut chances.
It was the Saints who opened the scoring however against the run of play when Calum Gallagher, looking suspiciously offside latched onto a through ball before beating David Gray in the box and calmly side footing the ball past Mark Oxley.
Hibs almost equalised in the 28th minute when Lewis Stevenson’s low cross was deflected into the air. Martin Boyle headed the ball into the path of Jason Cummings but Jamie Langfield was able to punch the ball to safety.
The breakthrough came just before the break when Stevenson found Liam Henderson in midfield. The on-loan teenager looked up and sent an inch perfect cross to the back post when Gray headed the ball back across goal and Boyle was on hand to head the ball into the net.
In the 59th minute a Stevenson strike hit the junction of the post and bar with Langfield beaten then Henderson mishit the ball from eight yards after some good work by Dylan McGeouch and Boyle.
Stubbs replaced Boyle with Malonga and the striker almost scored with a header from a John McGinn cross but Langfield managed to parry the ball away.
St Mirren substitute Steven Thompson was booked for a bad lunge on Paul Hanlon which could have resulted in a red card. In fact the striker should have been booked earlier after attempting to kick McGinn but the referee failed to act.
Both Cummings and Malonga had long range efforts in the dying minutes as St Mirren held on to secure a share of the points.
Hibs: Oxley, Gray, Stevenson, Hanlon, Fontaine, McGinn, Henderson, McGeouch, Bartley, Boyle, Cummings. Subs: Reguero, McGregor, Malonga, Stanton, Carmichael, Dunsmore, Martin
St Mirren: Langfield, Kelly, Webster, Goodwin, McMullan, Carswell, Howieson, Baird, Watson, Gallagher, Shankland. Subs Wilks, Conlan, Thompson, Agnew, Morgan, Mallan, McGrath.
Referee Crawford Allan
Hibernian 12th man Raymond Sclater
Attendance 8911
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
