Hibernian Secure Impressive St Johnstone Win
Hibernian secured an impressive win in the first game since the Scottish Premiership split after the Macklin Motors-backed side dispatched St Johnstone with ease at McDiarmid Park.
Having missed out on a place in the top six with a draw at Motherwell in the final game before the split, the pressure was firmly on going into the match, with the Board of Directors having stated that a bottom half finish was ‘not acceptable’.
With that in mind, the visitors wasted little time in hitting the front, with Emiliano Marcondes stepping up to fire in a stunning free-kick from outside the box after just six minutes – giving ‘keeper Dimitar Mitov no chance.
That settled any early nerves and by half-time, Hibs had doubled their lead as captain Paul Halson stabbed home a rare goal from close range just before the break following a throw in.
St Johnstone had had chances in the opening half of the game, with Adameh Sidibeh in particular missing one fine opportunity to equalise when the score was still just 1-0, and it was a similar story in the second half before Hibernian added a third.
When Josh Campbell headed a ball over the heads of the St Johnstone defenders, Dylan Vente raced through the middle and smashed the ball beyond Mitov into the net to make it 3-0.
Benjamin Kimpioka would eventually lash in a consolation late on for St Johnstone but it was too little, too late as Hibs took the points to move four points clear of Aberdeen in the race for seventh spot.
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