10-man Hibs fought back from a goal down to record their third consecutive win under new boss Paul Heckingbottom and consolidate their place in the top six.
Heckingbottom kept the same starting XI that beat Dundee last Friday but his players started slowly and Saints grabbed an early lead through Chris Kane.
Kane then passed up a great chance to make it 2-0 when he blasted his shot wide after outpacing his marker.
The hosts looked the side more likely to score but Hibs fought back and were awarded a penalty when Joe Shaughnessy pushed Florian Kamberi inside the area.
Marc McNulty hammered home the spot kick. Hibs started to dominate possession however were reduced to 10-men when Vykintas Slivka was shown a second yellow card for pulling back Tony Watt.
Despite being a player short it was the visitors who grabbed the winner when substitute Stephane Omeonga slid the ball to McNulty who beat the offside trap and calmly dinked the ball over Cammy Bell to the delight of the large travelling supporters.
St Johnstone threw everyone forward late on and in time added on Ofir Marciano produced a world class save to deny Kane and secure the valuable three points.
Hibs are now three points clear of St Johnstone in sixth place, and three behind Hearts with a superior goal difference.
After the game Heckingbottom told BBC Scotland: “It was a good penalty, a good goal, after a bit of a farce and gamesmanship – trying to slow it down and put him under pressure. But he [McNulty] is cool enough in those situations.
“Even though we had 10 men we still encouraged the boys to play and we wanted to keep two strikers on the pitch as we felt we could get a winner.”
Hibs: Marciano, Gray, McGregor, Hanlon, Stevenson, Mallan, Milligan, Slivka, Horgan, Kamberi, McNulty. Subs: Bartley, Bigirimana, Shaw. Omeonga, Dabrowski. Mackie. Allan
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.
