St Mirren vs Hibernian. Scottish Premiership.
The SMiSA StadiumAttendance5,650.
Head coach Lennon reportedly suspended by Hibs
Sunday 27 January 2019 16:48, UK
Despite being without head coach Neil Lennon, Hibernian won their first league game in six attempts with a 3-1 victory at bottom-of-the-table St Mirren.
Lennon, along with his assistant Garry Parker, were reportedly suspended on Friday night following a meeting with chief executive Leeann Dempster, but academy coaches Eddie May and Grant Murray stepped up to oversee the victory.
Goals from substitute Oli Shaw (61), Darren McGregor (70) and Stevie Mallan (87) cancelled out Simeon Jackson's opener (24), placing Hibs seventh in the table, with struggling Saints one point adrift of second-bottom Dundee at the foot of the Scottish Premiership.
May, who made it clear before the game that he was not interested in the head coach’s role on a full-time basis, made a couple of changes to the visitors' side, with captain David Gray fit to start for the first time since October and Vykintas Slivka recalled to midfield.
Saints boss Oran Kearney gave a debut to Danish winger Anders Dreyer, signed on loan from Brighton on Saturday, and Kyle McAllister made his first start since returning from Derby.
It took until the 18th minute for the first serious effort on goal, but Gray’s powerful header from a Mallan corner just cleared the bar.
St Mirren’s first attempt resulted in a goal. Midfielder Brad Lyons skipped past McGregor and cut the ball back across goal for Jackson to slide in to net his fifth goal of the season.
Hibs could have been further behind in the 33rd minute when midfielder Greg Tansey’s free-kick from the right was deflected fortuitously to Jackson running in behind the Easter Road defence, but goalkeeper Ofir Marciano made a good instinctive save.
Hibs were offering little in attack, but just before the break winger Daryl Horgan had a decent drive from 20 yards saved by St Mirren 'keeper Vaclav Hladky. The Leith side upped their efforts in the second half.
In the 56th minute Hibs midfielder Ryan Gauld robbed Saints skipper Stephen McGinn, but his drive from 25 yards sped past a post.
On the hour mark, Marciano’s mistake presented the ball to McAllister 35 yards from goal, but the Saints player took the ball away from goal and his long-range effort missed the target.
Around 60 seconds later, Saints were made to pay as, with a wonderful pass, Mallen set up Shaw, on for Daryl Horgan five minutes after the break, and he slipped the ball through the legs of Hladky from 14 yards.
The resurgent visitors took the lead when Florian Kamberi’s header from a Mallen corner was blocked on the line by Buddies defender Paul McGinn, only for McGregor to follow in and hammer the ball high into the net.
Stunned Saints came back strongly and Marciano made good saves from Stephen McGinn and McAllister before a Hibs breakaway in the 87th minute saw Shaw set up Mallen to side-foot in from 14 yards to seal the points.
