St Mirren 1 - 1 Hibs - match report

Published on Saturday 21 November 2009 17:38

A stunning 30-yard strike from Derek Riordan, his sixth goal of the season, wasn't enough to give Hibs their first win in Paisley in almost 11 years as Chris Innes hit back in injury time at the end of the first half to earn St Mirren a well-deserved point.

The return of Sol Bamba saw Hibs boss John Hughes reshuffle his defence again with skipper Chris Hogg moving out to right-back as the Ivory Coast star took his place alongside Ian Murray while David Wotherspoon stepped forward into midfield.

But it was Saints who made all the early running, David Barron picking up a loose clearance from Kevin McBride to dispatch a tremendous right-foot strike which whistled wide of Graham Stack's goal.

The Hibs goalkeeper made a superb instinctive save with his left boot to deny Steven Thomson as he burst into the penalty area to meet Jack Ross' low cross before throwing himself full-length to push away Stephen McGinn's effort.

Then Andy Dorman burst through the heart of the Hibs defence only to shoot wide before Riordan stunned the home fans into silence in the 29th minute with a sublime strike. John Rankin, on for the injured McBride, and Liam Miller did the spadework before Riordan stepped inside Ross to unleash a dipping right-foot shot from almost 30 yards which left Saints goalkeeper Paul Gallacher helpless.

Riordan had another opportunity a minute later but scuffed his shot straight at Gallacher who was happy to see a later shot from Abdessalam Benjelloun crash off his chest after good work by the Moroccan star.

Saints, though, were far from out of the match and equalised in the second of the two minutes referee Willie Collum had added at the end of the opening period, Innes rising all alone to bullet a header home from Ross' free-kick.

It was little surprise the Buddies equaliser had come via the aerial route as they'd given the Hibs back-line a pretty torried time of it in the air with Michael Higdon and Billy Mehmet both winning plenty of ball for their midfield runners.

Despite the incessant rain it had been an entertaining first 45 minutes with Saints probably aggrieved at heading up the tunnel level.

St Mirren Park continued to receive a thorough soaking as proceedings restarted, referee Willie Collum showing remarkable restraint in the face of a string of niggly fouls, most of them committed by the home side, as play became somewhat ragged.

The horrendous conditions weren't helping the match with neither side able to take control although Hugh Murray went close for Saints with a low shot from Higdon's touch as Hibs replaced Anthony Stokes with Colin Nish up-front.

St Mirren: Gallacher, Ross, Mair, Innes, Barron Dorman, H Murray (Johnston 86), Thomson, McGinn, Higdon (Dargo 78), Mehmet. Subs not used: Howard, O'Donnell, Brady, McLean, Devlin.

Hibs: Stack, Hogg, Bamba, I Murray, Stevenson, Wotherspoon (Galbraith 84), McBride (Rankin 17), Miller, Riordan, Stokes (Nish 68), Benjelloun. Subs not used: Ma-Kalambay, Cregg, Thicot, Byrne.

Referee: Willie Collum.