Hibs remain stuck at the foot of the table after a lacklustre performance and a 2-1 defeat to St Mirren at Easter Road yesterday.
David Gray made two changes to his starting XI following last weekend’s draw with Dundee United.
Mykola Kuharevich was suspended following his red card and Lewis Miller dropped to the bench, with right-back Chris Cadden and forward Elie Youan both starting the game.
St Mirren started the game with passion and Conor McMenamin opened the scoring with a deft flick at the front post after getting on the end of a Scott Tanser cross from the left.Â
Youan then did well inside the Saint’s box but his powerful effort rebounded off the post.Â
McMenamin then added a second after dispossessing Warren O’Hora on the half way line. His strike struck Joe Bursik on the way into the net.
The half time whistle was met with a chorus of boos from the disgruntled fans.
Gray made a triple change for the second half with Kwon Hyeok-Kyu, Nector Triantis, and Warren O’Hora replaced by Nicky Cadden, Rocky Bushiri and Dylan Levitt.
The crossbar then saved Hibs before they were awarded a penalty when Martin Boyle was brought down by Mark O’Hara.
Boyle took the resultant spot kick but Ellery Balcombe produced a fine save.
Boyle was then substituted along with Junior Hoilett. Dwight Gayle and Harry McKirdy came on in their place.
Then in time added on Hibs were awarded their second penalty of the day when a Joe Newell shot struck the arm of former Hibs defender Alex Gogic.
Nicky Cadden dispatched the spot kick.
The in the dying seconds he thought he had scored an undeserved equaliser when his effort flew into the net however the ball had struck Gayle who was standing in an offside position and after a VAR check the goal was disallowed.
Another chorus of boos greeted the final whistle from the fans who were left and Youan had to be restrained by Bushiri from confronting a disgruntled supporter.
The result sees Hibs remain at the foot of the table.
After the final whistle Gray told BBC Sportsound: “First half performance, totally unacceptable. I think I need to apologise to the fans because of the situation we find ourselves in.
“The need for points and the need for wins… to offer that up is just not good enough.
“You need to give credit to St Mirren as well. They started on the front foot but I thought we started really poorly.”
Hibs: Bursik, C. Cadden, Ekpiteta, O’Hora, Obita, Kwon, Newell, Triantis, Boyle, Youan, Hoilett.
Substitutes: Smith, Miller, Levitt, Doyle-Hayes, Iredale, McKirdy, N. Cadden, Bushiri, Gayle.
St Mirren: Balcombe, Fraser, Gogic, Taylor, Bwomono, Tanser, Phililips, O’Hara, Kiltie, McMenamin, Olusanya.
Substitutes: Urminsky, Kenny, Penman, Smythm Adeniran, Scott, Mooney, Ayunga, Mandron.
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.
