Ten man Hibs left with one point from a wet and windy McDiarmid Park last night and once again the main talking point was a refereeing performance.
Neil Lennon made one change to his starting XI from last week’s 2-0 Edinburgh Derby victory, with Marvin Bartley replacing the injured Dylan McGeouch.
Hibs started brightly and opened the scoring in the second minute. Scott Allan did well to beat the Saint’s defender on the wing before firing an inch perfect cross onto the head of Efe Abrose.
The Nigerian defender calmly nodded the ball past Alan Mannus to the delight of that travelling support.
Flo Kamberi then went close before referee John Beaton angered the Hibs’ fans by sending off goalkeeper Ofir Marciano for handling the ball outside the area.
The Israeli international protested that the ball struck his body but to no avail.
Cammy Bell replaced Jamie MacLaren and Lennon changed to a 4-3-2 formation, after beginning the game with a 3-5-2.
Hibs continued to press with Kamberi and Paul Hanlon both coming close.
Bell then demonstrated his value with a sensational save from Joe Shaughnessy before diving bravely at the feet of Kane.
After the break, both sides had chances, before Bell produced another great save from George Williams.
Blair Alston was extremely fortunate not to be shown a red card for a disgraceful challenge on John McGinn who was breaking from defence. At the time of the foul, the ball was several yards away but to the astonishment of everyone in the stadium, Beaton produced a yellow card.
Thankfully Lennon was in the stand serving the first of his three game ban and not in the dugout.
Kamberi went close with a fine effort but the Saints looked more likely to score.
Darren McGregor fired the ball into the top corner with a superb strike however the effort was disallowed due to a foul by Paul Hanlon in the build up.
A frustrated McGinn who had been the subject of several late challenges was then booked for a foul on former Hibs’ player David Wotherspoon.
St Johnstone’s pressure finally paid off with seven minutes remaining when Kane volleyed home from just inside the area.
The hosts almost grabbed an undeserved winner in time added on but a fingertip save by Bell from Scott Tanser’s free-kick saw the ball rebound off the bar and McGregor did well to shield the ball from the Saints’ strikers.
The result leaves Hibs in fourth place, one point behind Aberdeen who have a game in hand.
St Johnstone: Mannus, Tanser, Alston (Wotherspoon, 68), Shaughnessy, Anderson, Millar (Williams, 45), Davidson, MacLean, Gordon (Johnstone, 73), Kane, Craig. Subs not used: Clark, Comrie, Watson, Willock.
Hibernian: Marciano, Ambrose, McGregor, Hanlon, Boyle, Allan (Whittaker, 88), Bartley, McGinn, Stevenson, Kamberi, Maclaren (Bell, 16). Subs not used: Swanson, Rherras, Shaw, Porteous, Stirling.
Referee: John Beaton
Attendance: 3,652
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
