St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson says that his players will use Hibs’ 93rd minute penalty at McDiarmid Park earlier in the season as motivation when the teams meet again tonight at Easter Road.
Stevie Mallan fired the spot-kick which Davidson described as ‘harsh’ into the net to secure the three points and the midfielder revealed yesterday that he is back on penalty duties after Kevin Nisbet’s second consecutive miss.
Speaking ahead of the game Davidson said: “Hibs are having a very good season and are scoring goals, so they are on a high at the moment. They defend well and have a good balance in their team.
“We played well against them at home earlier in the season and felt we should have had something from the game.
“They got a penalty in the 93rd minute, which we felt was very harsh on us, so hopefully we can use that as motivation for this game and get something.”
The Saints travel to the capital without two influential players after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Livingston however that could leave the door open for a former Hibs’ captain to regain his place in the team.
Midfielder Murray Davidson had to be stretchered off on the half-hour mark having landed awkwardly on his shoulder during a challenge whilst winger Craig Conway was forced off on the hour with a broken nose.
Davidson confirmed that neither will be available for selection tonight. He added: “Murray is okay, he got out of hospital on Saturday night after being checked over.
“He had a sore head so he’ll go through the concussion protocols now with the doctor and the physio.
“He’ll definitely miss the next two games and we’ll see after that, hopefully he recovers well and we’ll have him back soon.”
“It was a typical Murray challenge, when you watch it back it was a sore one. At first we thought it was his shoulder but when you see the video again it’s his head and neck that takes the brunt of it.
“Craig Conway has a broken nose, it’s a bad one and he’ll need to have it re-set once the swelling has gone down. He went to hospital on Saturday but the swelling was so bad there was nothing they could do for him. So once that has settled down, he’s to go back in and they’ll fix it. We’ll just have to wait and see how long that takes.
“It’s a blow to lose two important players like Murray and Craig because they have both been brilliant for me this season.
“We have a small squad but it’s a good one, so we have people like Liam Craig, who was unlucky to be left out, ready to come in.”
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.
