Kearney: Hibs’ winner should not have stood

Oran Kearney claimed the officials missed some blatant gamesmanship as Hibs’ David Gray netted the winner. Kearney said video footage showed Flo Kamberi holding two of his players while Gray headed the ball into the net. The St Mirren boss said: “The set-piece for the Hibs goal is something they have trained and it’s supposed to be eradicated but Kamberi and Gray were at the back post and we had two men marking them.

“Gray comes past Kamberi’s shoulder and Kamberi just stands and grabs for three seconds with two arms round our players.

“He holds them while Gray goes around the back and heads it in. “I understand screening goes on and there’s bits and pieces of contact. If it’s a split second and there’s a bump, it’s hard for referees and linesman.

“Gray spins around the back and it’s on the linesman’s side of the pitch.

“If they make the call they should make at the time, we are in at half-time at 0-0 and we have even more of a chance of taking something. These are the fine margins.”

Kearney accepts that scoring goals is a problem. The Saints have only one in the last seven games and that was an own goal at Tynecastle.

He said: “On another day, we could have taken something from the game.

“I think that’s four, five or six games without a goal and the first goal for a team on any day can be a catalyst.

“The fact there hasn’t been one for a few games, it would have been a relief. “Cammy Macpherson’s chance, Simeon’s chance – if one of those go in, we would probably have had a chance to win the game because the adrenalin and release from scoring would have been huge.”