Saints edged out in five goal thriller

ABOVE: Liam Craig celebrates his goal.

Derek McInnes provided a surprise in his line up for this rearranged game against Hibernian at Easter Road by bringing Jody Morris straight back into the team. The midfielder had missed the last four games due to injury and although it had been made known that he had stepped up training it was widely expected that the club captain wouldn’t be risked so soon but he replaced Willie Gibson in an otherwise unchanged line-up from the team which defeated Hearts on Sunday.

It was shirt-sleeve weather as the game kicked off – not something you get to say very often about Scotland in September

The opening ten minutes were pretty uneventful as the teams sized each other up but it was in the tenth minute that the first clear cut chance came along with Peter Enckelman having to be alert to palm a snapshot from Junior Agogo over the bar.

The Saints keeper was in action again in the 16th minute and he did well to come from goal and hold a low, dangerous cross from Ivan Sproule.

If the opening quarter of an hour was relatively quiet, the same couldn’t be said of the period which followed as the fans witnessed two goals in as many minutes and it was the home side who drew first blood, puncturing Saints’ proud record of not having conceded a goal away from home this season.

Garry O’Connor and Junior Agogo were the men involved in the build-up and when the latter fired the ball left to Ivan Sproule, the Northern Irishman cut inside before unleashing a tremendous shot beyond the reach of Enckelman.

However, Saints are made of stern stuff these days and within a couple of minutes we were back on level terms and it was Liam Craig, making his 150th appearance in a Saints jersey, who scored it. Dave MacKay did the spadework with a run to the byline on the right and when his cross came in it was met by the right foot of Liam eight yards out and he made no mistake.

Saints could have edged ahead just minutes later when Sheridan found Chris Millar in acres of space inside the box but his effort across goal found no takers.

Saints then played the best part of seven minutes a man short when Kevin Moon had to go off to get treatment for a face knock which appeared to draw blood but during that time the home side could only muster an Ivan Sproule shot which was sufficiently wide that it went out for a throw in.

In 30 minutes we almost saw a magnificent goal from Francisco Sandaza who took advantage of a cheap giveaway of possession by the home side and he danced his way into the box the way only Fran can but his parting shot went agonisingly just the wrong side of Graham Stack’s left hand post.

It’s fair to say that Ivan Sproule was causing us concern down the left and in 37 minutes another run which saw him create a lot of space for himself should have ended better for him than a poor cross across the six yard box with no support.

However, the home side were smiling just moments later when they regained the lead through Garry O’Connor who did well to create the chance inside the box and he fairly drilled it low past Enckelman to make it 2-1.

Saints had two great chances to bounce back from this disappointment before half time but neither Sandaza nor Craig could convert – the Spaniard just being edged out at the last moment as he bore down on goal and then Liam Craig seeing a long-ranger pushed around the post by Hibs’ keeper Stack.

The Easter Road side too could have grabbed another goal before the break but Enckelman was equal to Garry O’Connor’s 12 yard drive.

The first serious piece of action of the second half came in 53 minutes when Steven Anderson was called upon to halt Leigh Griffiths in his tracks and he did just that with a perfectly timed tackle after Kevin Moon had been wasteful with possession in the middle of the park. It proved to be the former Dundee man’s last action before he was replaced, the 401 Saints fans having given him the sort of reception they reserve only for former Dens Park players…….

Although Hibs had one quick break which was snuffed out, it was Saints who enjoyed good swathes of possession in the opening fifteen minutes of the second half but they couldn’t carve out a goal and the situation became worse in 62 minutes when Hibs were awarded the softest of penalty kicks.

Garry O’Connor was making his way towards goal in the penalty box when he was challenged by David McCracken and his dramatic fall was enough to convince referee Steve Conroy that a foul had been committed. O’Connor did the needful from 12 yards to make it 3-1.

Saints immediately made a change with Willie Gibson replacing Alan Maybury with Liam Craig moving into the left back slot and Gibson was the architect of a good chance in 69 minutes as his cross was met by the head of Dave Mackay whose looping effort couldn’t be controlled by Sheridan.

As the second half progressed Saints looked by far the likelier side enjoying plenty of possession and dealing with any Hibs attack relatively comfortably but for all we saw of the ball we just couldn’t carve out a goal scoring opportunity of any great note, not even from an 80th minute free kick by Liam Craig who didn’t catch his 25 yards effort cleanly.

Hibs sub AkpoSodje came close for the home side in the 85th minute, his angled drive flashing across the face of goal and although David Robertson and Marcus Haber were introduced in a bid to turn things around, Easter Road keeper had a relatively quiet time. That was until the 89th minute.

Cillian Sheridan was on target again, receiving the ball in the box and turning Ian Murray before curling a great effort off the inside of Stack’s right hand post and although he was quick to retrieve the ball from the net neither he nor his colleagues could conjure up another goal in the remaining time and the game ended, leaving Saints defeated on the road for the first time this season and Hibs celebrating their first home win since February.

SAINTS: Enckelman, Mackay, Maybury (Gibson), Morris, Anderson, McCracken (Haber), Millar, Moon (Robertson), Sandaza, Sheridan, Craig. Subs not used: Mannus, Durnan, May, Caddis

HIBS: Stack, Hanlon, O’Hanlon, Murray, O’Connor (Sodje), Sproule (Stevenson), Agogo, Palsson, Osbourne, Towell, Griffiths (Scott). Subs not used: Brown, Wotherspoon, Stephens, Booth

8,323 referee: Steve Conroy

PHOTOS Top - No way through this time for Fran Sandaza Bottom - Cillian Sheridan curls home his gola that made it 3-2 in the final minute