Hibees pile woe on Saints but are driving manager Lennon nuts
Neil Lennon insists his players are driving him nuts for not taking their chances.
But he says he can’t complain too much after securing another clean sheet and three precious points. David Gray’s header won the game for Hibs in the end, but it was a much more stressful day for Lennon than he wanted it to be.
His players contrived to miss chances and he was just fortunate that St Mirren were equally flagrant in front of goal during a spirited second-half comeback.
However, he knows it was an important win for his side, especially after an energy-sapping Betfred Cup match in midweek. Lennon said: “We were excellent first half but we should have been two up. We’re missing chances and it’s driving me nuts.
“We’re giving the opposition encouragement but not taking our chances. We had to grind it out in the end and we only have ourselves to blame because of the flagrancy in front of goal.
“I just think our finishing was woeful. We had two or three great opportunities on the counter-attack and we picked the wrong pass.
“We could have put the game out of sight and that’s my only bone of contention with the players.
“It was a brilliant performance on Tuesday which took a lot out of the players, and you could see fatigue
starting to set in. We have another clear sheet and another three points and they are giving me everything at the minute.
“I can’t ask much more of them apart from to put the ball in the net, please, and make my life a lot more comfortable.” Lennon was also hugely praiseworthy of Efe Ambrose, who is in a rich vein of form.
He said: “He’s magnificent right now. You don’t play for Celtic for four years by not being a good player.
“Yes, there have been a couple of high-profile mistakes but we are seeing that a lot at Celtic and I don’t think people get treated the way Efe did. “We have given him a home and we are seeing his class. Efe is probably one of the best centre-backs Hibs have had for a long, long time. I am delighted for him.
“It’s not that I pull my hair out with him, it’s like ‘don’t lose it there’.
“What he does is give us an extra dimension to how you want to play.
“When he puts his mind at ease he’s a top-class player. We are seeing the fruits of it at the minute.”
Gray’s goal came in 14 minutes when he got on the end of Stevie Mallan’s corner from the left – even if Saints were unhappy about it. They dominated that in the first half but failed to kill off the Buddies who had chances in the second period. New signing Simeon Jackson was through on Adam Bogdan in 51 minutes but shot too close to him and the keeper made a fine save.
Then Jack Baird had a header cleared off the line by Mark Milligan and Cammy Macpherson volleyed past the post near the end.
In between, Thomas Agyepong chose the wrong option twice on the breakaway and Olly Shaw might have done better with a header in 68 minutes from Flo Kamberi’s cross.
The win took Hibs into outright second place, at least until Rangers play at Livingston today, while the Buddies remain in second-bottom place.