Easton knows Perth men were lucky to hold Hibs
Pals Wright and Lennon are all smiles before the kick-off St Johnstone ................. 1 Hibs .............................. 1 Brian Easton holds a strong sense of optimism for what lies ahead in the Scottish Premiership this season.
Perhaps even more so after Saturday afternoon when, despite not performing, St Johnstone still managed to pick up a point against slick-looking Hibernian.
At one point delirious Perth fans were even jumping for joy, when Michael O’Halloran opened the scoring – his fifth goal in five league games.
But in all honesty, there was an air of surprise around the stadium following the back-post strike. Despite a strong opening to the game Saints struggled to impose themselves and Hibs were very much on top.
Their pressure paid off on the hour mark as Paul Paton shunted the ball into his own net before the Edinburgh onslaught intensified.
After an afternoon when stopper Alan Mannus got full use out of his gloves, defender Easton is buoyed by the fact Saints managed to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
He said: “It’s a bit disappointing because for the first 25 minutes I thought we played well. For whatever reason we let them back into the game.
“We gave away cheap passes and they didn’t take their foot off the gas for a while. They dominated the second half despite us getting the goal.
“It was probably one of our poorer games this season but we still didn’t lose and came away with a point against a good Hibs side. It is frustrating because we always want to play well, especially after the start we have had. We love the feeling of going home with three points.
“This has definitely been the best start to a season since I’ve been at the club. Three out of the four seasons our start has been pretty poor.
“When you start like this it gives you a bit of optimism but we will definitely be keeping our feet on the ground.
“This is a very tough league and if you do get complacent you can go on a poor run.
“We’ll take it game by game and try to reach the 40-point mark as soon as possible – then you take it from there.
“We have a few tough games coming up now before the next international break.”
Hibs boss Neil Lennon had jokingly called pal Tommy Wright out in the press earlier in the week.
So the Perth boss was out to hit back by bagging three points.
It was the visitors, however, who carved out the first chance when Anthony Stokes created space to fire towards goal. His hit, although powerful, was straight at Mannus.
It didn’t take long for Saints to work their way into the game and neat work down the left flank resulted in David Wotherspoon whipping across a dangerous 10th minute delivery, which was turned behind for a corner.
From that set-piece – a training ground move – Stefan Scougall saw his effort blocked en route to goal.
This was an exciting start and O’Halloran then glided deep into opposition territory before finding advanced Paton in what was shaping up to be a neat move.
And it was even neater when the Northern Irish internationalist slipped