Hibs head coach David Gray described yesterday’s victory over St Johnstone at Easter Road as a “complete performance.”
Goals from Junior Hoilett, Martin Boyle, and Kieron Bowie sealed all three points as Hibs confirmed a spot in the top six.
When speaking after the game, Gray was full of praise for his players.
“It was a complete performance. Before the game you set out your game plan and what you’d like to see, and we saw that today.
“Three points, three goals at home, and a clean sheet; that’s everything you could hope for.
“All the praise goes to the players today for their efforts, they fully deserved the win.”
Credit: Ian Jacobs
Credit: Ian Jacobs
Credit: Ian Jacobs
Credit: Ian Jacobs
Credit: Ian Jacobs
The Hibees were dominant at Easter Road from start to finish, limiting St Johnstone to zero shots on target.
Gray applauded his players for implementing the high press game plan and for their defensive efforts.
“It starts right from the front; we say that all the time. It’s a reflection on how good we were without the ball.
“A lot of our work this week was without the ball because of the way St Johnstone play.
“They like to have a lot of the ball and like to play out from the back, so we wanted to create traps to win the ball back high up the pitch. We saw that work today.
“The two goals in the first half were a result of that and a lot of the chances we created.
“If I’m being a wee bit critical, we, maybe, wasted a few opportunities on our transition, but massive praise again to everyone.
“The back five were high and aggressive, which made the distances shorter for the front three to press the way they did.
Credit: Ian Jacobs
Credit: Ian Jacobs
Credit: Ian Jacobs
Credit: Ian Jacobs
“If you think about the international boys coming back too and the amount of travel they’ve done, for them to put in that kind of performance is great to see.”
As aforementioned that win has confirmed a top six spot for Hibs, extends our unbeaten league run to 15, and means we’ve now won six consecutives games at Easter Road.
“I’m really proud,” said Gray. “When I think about where we’ve been to where we are now to give us this opportunity, you have to be.
“At the start of every season the minimum for this football club is top six, we know that, and then you start to look towards the European places.
“With two games to go before the split we’ve secured top six, which hasn’t been done for a few years, so praise goes to the players for that.
“Again, when you think about where we were, it’s an incredible achievement.
“We go into a difficult game at Ibrox next, but we go into it in a brilliant frame of mind, confidence is high, momentum is there, and we will go there with a game-plan to keep this run going.”
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.
