Hibs march on after
the injured forward Kevin Nisbet. The summer signing from Dunfermline Athletic has a hamstring injury and is unlikely to be fit until after the September international break.
Hibs started with a bit of purpose and threatened inside two minutes. From centre-half, Porteous fizzed a pass that bypassed the midfield straight to Christian Doidge in attack. The Welshman controlled, spun and set Martin Boyle free on the righthand side. The Australian took aim and his low effort was well turned away by Elliott Parish in the St Johnstone goal. From the resultant corner, Hibs claimed for a penalty when the ball struck Hendry, but referee John Beaton deemed it body rather than arm.
The match had slipped into the torpor that has been the subject of much discussion afflicting a number of Premiership games this season – particularly those broadcast live on Sky Sports. It is a good thing the television deal is not a pay-per-goal agreement. A ray of hope came just before the half-hour mark – borne out of an error, it must be said. Parish dawdled a second too long on a backpass and Boyle blocked his clearance, the ball looping high into the penalty box. Daryl Horgan’s mis-control landed back with Boyle and the Australian prodded the ball home, already aware that he was offside by some distance.
That seemed to spur St Johnstone to do the same. A minute later, Conway floated a cross into the box and Hendry beat Hibs keeper Ofir Marciano to head the ball into the net. The Israeli was lucky that his poor judgment was saved by the linesman’s flag, although television pictures proved it was the wrong call, with Horgan playing the Saints forward onside.
Moments after that, we had another disallowed goal. Allan’s delicious corner was headed goalward by Doidge and Parish made an excellent save with his legs. The rebound pinged out back to Doidge, who at this point was on the ground and although he bundled the ball into the net, Beaton immediately blew for a handball by the Welshman.
Alas, that was as good as it got for the rest of the half. Allan, Hibs’ creative midfielder, became more and more frustrated as the gaps failed to materialise, while Alex Gogic hoiked a shot so far wide of goal that there was a brief danger that the corner flag was going to be woken from 42 minutes of unbroken sleep.
It was St Johnstone who restarted the match with more vigour. Hendry is a busy, stocky forward and Paul Hanlon found him an uncomfortable opponent throughout. The Hibs defender was left floundering by some good work down Saints’ right from the 22-year-old and Marciano did well to cut out his fizzed cross. Then on, 49 minutes, Marciano leapt to turn over a vicious drive from Mcnamara as the hosts pinned Hibs back.
Hibs decided to roll the dice first and make a substitution on 61 min