A kind of hush but Hibs keep on course
HIBERNIAN maintained their lead at the top of the Championship courtesy of a clinical victory over bottom side St Mirren.
First-half goals from Martin Boyle and Grant Holt were enough to ensure Neil Lennon’s men remain three points clear of second-placed Dundee United.
But, despite watching his team cruise to victory, Lennon demanded more noise from the fans at Easter Road.
‘I don’t want to alienate myself from the supporters, but the place seems to go a wee bit quiet as soon as we go a goal ahead,’ said Lennon.
‘We would like a bit more atmosphere to drive the players on. I don’t know if the fans just expect us to win. You can’t just sit there and expect it to happen.
‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s a small issue. But I feel the team are doing their bit and some sections of the stadium could maybe start doing their bit, too.
‘We were comfortable and should have won by more than just two goals. Our performance deserved more gloss on the scoreline as we were really good from start to finish.’
Lennon dropped top scorer Jason Cummings once again yesterday, adding: ‘I toyed with the idea of starting Jason because of the injury to James Keatings.
‘But this has given him a jag. He was off-colour in the last three or four games — and he knows that.
‘It’s not just about one individual. It’s about the whole squad — but Jason will still be an important player for us this season.’
St Mirren started the match the brighter of the two teams, but a moment of brilliance from Andrew Shinnie carved the Saints defence wide open on eight minutes.
A scything pass from the Hibs playmaker sent Boyle racing clear on goal and he calmly dinked the ball over Jamie Langfield.
The goal owed as much to Shinnie’s vision and speed of thought as it did Boyle’s searing pace. The disappointment for St Mirren will be that none of their defenders managed to intercept a pass which travelled the best part of 30 yards along the deck.
Ryan Hardie then came close to equalising for Saints on 15 minutes, but his header was cleared off the line by Lewis Stevenson, while a sprawling save from Langfield denied Boyle his second goal of the afternoon on the half-hour mark.
But Hibs doubled their lead shortly after on 34 minutes.
Again, the defending from St Mirren was weak. The ball sat up perfectly for Holt on the edge of the box and he rifled a volley low into Langfield’s bottom right-hand corner.
The second half fizzled out, but Langfield prevented Hibs from going further ahead by saving Holt’s penalty on 74 minutes after Gary Irvine had fouled the striker.
St Mirren boss Jack Ross said: ‘I don’t have any complaints about the outcome. We were competitive in the first half. We ran out of ideas slightly towards the end, but the players stuck to their jobs well and didn’t buckle.’