Hibernian FC

The boys produced a terrific, attacking performance to comfortably claim all three points against St Johnstone in Perth this afternoon.

Goals from Emiliano Marcondes, Paul Hanlon and Dylan Vente saw us claim victory in our first post-split fixture.

Benjamin Kimpioka notched a late consolation effort for the hosts to put a flattering slant on the scoreline for the Saints, however, make no mistake, we could’ve and perhaps should’ve won by more.

Saints’ goalkeeper, Dimitar Mitov, was a busy man throughout the 90 minutes and made a string of stunning saves to prevent his side suffering an embarrassing and heavy defeat.

Nick Montgomery had one enforced change this afternoon after Elie Youan picked up a knock in training.

Veteran striker Adam Le Fondre replaced him in the starting XI and Youan joined Jake Doyle-Hayes, Luka Amos and Lewis Miller by missing out completely.

Despite the spring sunshine soaking Perthshire this afternoon there was a chill in the air at McDiarmind Park until the sixth minute moment of fire when the game burst into life.

We won a free kick some 30 yards from goal and Emiliano produced a stunning finish to beat Dimitar Mitov all ends up. The Dane showing incredible technique to curl a stunning finish over the defensive wall and into to the top-left corner of the net.

Having produced a moment of magic at one end he very nearly he cost us at the other soon after when he lost possession to Liam Gordon; the defender’s challenge sent Adama Sidibeh clean through before David Marshall raced out to make a huge save and block the shot.

That rare chance for St Johnstone aside, we were doing the majority of the attacking and appeared the most likely to score next, which we almost did when Myziane played a one-two with Emiliano before Mitov touched his rising shot onto the crossbar.

Defender Will Fish would pick up a back knock that he tried to run off before having to concede defeat and be replaced by Hanlon. The veteran coming on for his 561^st Hibs appearance.

As the first half progressed, we were beginning to pile pressure on the hosts’ goal and Emiliano wasn’t far away from a second stunning free kick goal – this one was a little closer to goal and dipped just over Mitov’s crossbar.

Moments later and another opportunity as Joe Newell won possession just inside the Saints’ half before finding Emiliano on the right of box, he attempted to find Chris Cadden with a backheel and, although it was intercepted, he did manage to prod the ball just wide of goal.

Three minutes from half-time and Martin Boyle put on his afterburners to bust through the centre of a parting St Johnstone defence however, with only Mitov to beat, he attempted a poorly executed dink, and the goalkeeper was able to save at the expense of a throw in.

It could’ve been a costly miss however thankfully we would score from the resultant thrown in as Hanlon slammed a low shot past Mitov after Gordon had blocked his initial effort.  It was the skipper’s 28^th goal for the club and his first for 11 months.

In first half stoppage time it took a brave save from Mitov at the feet of Emiliano to prevent us increasing our lead as we finished the opening 45 minutes strongly.

There was little change to the balance of play after the break as we pushed hard in search of a third goal.

On 54 minutes Emiliano put Boyle through on goal, this time he held it up and side-stepped Gordon to tee up Myziane, who beat Mitov with a low drive, only for Dan Phillips to hook it off the line.

The pressure was relentless, and we went close again as Myziane drove inside off the left flank before laying it off to Emiliano with his shot beaten away at full stretch by Mitov diving to his right.

We were utterly dominant and, in an attempt, to swing the game in his side’s favour Craig Levein made a triple change that included an appearance for former Hibee, Drey Wright.

It did little to stem the flow of play towards his side’s goal as we again threatened when Cadden’s driven cross was about to be turned in by Myziane before McGowan lunged in to hook it away and prevent a certain goal.

With 20 minutes remaining Montgomery sent on Vente and Josh Campbell and it proved an inspired substitution as the pair combined to put the result beyond doubt.  Josh’s looping header forward put Dylan through on goal and he finished with aplomb, unleashing a vicious finish high into Saints net.

That was the cue for the home stands to empty as we kept pushing for more goals with Mitov producing a terrific save to beat away Campbell’s powerful shot from 18 yards, with a strong right hand.

The home side snatched an ill-deserved consolation with their only effort of note in the second half when Kimpioka swept in from close range from MacPherson’s driven cross.  A frustrating finish when a clean sheet was in our grasp however it did little to take the shine of a terrific team performance.