Hibs’ Head Coach Jack Ross praised the resilience of his players as they won their fourth game of the season and kept their third successive clean sheet in their victory over St Johnstone in Perth this afternoon.
Hibs had the better of the first half but the Saints fought back and were unfortunate to concede a late penalty after having a ‘goal’ controversially disallowed.
Hibs now sit second in the table on goal difference from Rangers.
After the final whistle Ross told Luke Shanley of Sky Sports: “The result was fantastic. You go to any away venue in the Premiership and you come away with a win you are delighted.
“I thought first-half we were good. We played well, the second-half not so well.
“We had to make changes to try and affect the game and we probably had as many of our positive players on the pitch at the end of the game as we could and we still weren’t playing particularly fluently but we found a way to win the game.
“I think as long as you defend as resiliently as we have done over the course of the season you always give yourself the opportunity to win the match.
“We speak before games and in the build up to games about ways to win the match and as I said the first half performance I thought we were good. A lot of things we worked on it was one of those days as a manager when you sit back and think ‘yeah we are at it’ and we could have won the game on that basis but we didn’t. What won us the game was our resilience and having the platform to win it and not conceding.
“We are doing that at the moment. We are finding ways to pick up points and long may that continue.”
Ross also praised the contribution of match winner Stevie Mallan who took the responsibility in his first game of 2020 to hammer the penalty past Elliot Parish to secure the victory.
Ross added: “I’m delighted to have him back and available first and foremost because he has real quality and he has shown that throughout his career and particularly in his first season here. I’ve worked with him before and believe that I can get the best from him. He has had a knee problem for a while and this is the first week that he has really felt good again so it’s nice to have him as an option from the bench.
“He will want to start games obviously but I didn’t imagine he would be winning it in that fashion.
“It shows his character and belief in himself that he wanted to take the penalty at that stage of the game.
“The result just grows the belief. I speak often enough about how good a group of players I have and their work ethic and how humble they are. You want them to develop a controlled arrogance and understand that to do what they have done so far in the Premiership is not easy. To win four and draw one and to be where we are in the table and to take confidence from it.
“We will get better. There are areas to improve upon but certainly at the moment it is a fantastic start for us.
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.
