Oran: Hibs are hurting for win
Gaffer expects tough clash in the capital
Oran Kearney believes Hibs could be a “wounded animal” as St Mirren prepare for their capital clash this evening.
The Buddies travel through to Edinburgh looking for their first away win of the season against a Hibs side who have failed to win in their past six games.
As Kearney looks to put Saturday’s home defeat to Hamilton behind him he is hopeful his Saints side can replicate their performance against Hibs in September in which St Mirren were unfortunate not to get anything from the game in a 1-0 loss.
Asked whether this is a good time to play against Hibs given the opponent’s poor run of form, the Buddies boss said: “Sometimes a wounded animal can be harder to play against.
“But we need to recognise where they are and try to use that to our advantage.
“It’s so easy to look at the opposition but I’m trying to concern ourselves with our actions.
“That day [ in the September fixture] we were super, especially in the second half.
“We were disappointed not to take anything.
“The performance was right on the money and I’d accept that level again this time.” However, the Northern Irishman admitted his team will need to cope better defensively from set-pieces to give themselves a chance of victory in Edinburgh tonight.
After the stunning 2-0 victory against Hearts, Saints were brought back down to earth in Saturday’s 3- 1 defeat, with Hamilton’s opening two goals both coming from dead- ball situations.
Kearney added: “To concede two goals from a set-piece like that you shoot yourself in the foot and leave yourself a mountain to climb. It’s probably more frustrating than anything else.
“Statistically it’s five or six games since we conceded from a set-piece. That’s probably 40 to 45 corners we’d defended successfully.
“It was a problem when I first came in and we did a lot of work to try to put it right.
“But football is strange. We coped so well.
“The majority of people did their jobs really well, it was just one player going to sleep for a splitsecond that did for us.
“Deal with the first set pieces the way we have recently and we have ourselves a match.”
The manager also confirmed there are no injury concerns in his squad ahead of tonight’s encounter. However, striker Simeon Jackson misses out through suspension having been red-carded on Saturday.