Hibs ‘gave their all’ at St Mirren

Lewis STEVENSON has revealed how he and his Hibs team-mates were left “on their hands and knees” by the effort they’d put in to claim the club’s first SPL win of 2013.

Boss Pat Fenlon had blasted his players for their work-rate as they crashed to St Johnstone but, Stevenson insisted, they’d given their all to bounce back with a win over St Mirren which pushed them back into fourth place in the table.

He said: “We knew we’d let ourselves down last week, everyone was disappointed. It was horrible. We knew we had to come back with a good performance, first and foremost, and that if we worked hard and battled we could get a result. To go and get a win was brilliant.

“To a man everyone was knackered, on their hands and knees. We gave our all but while we worked hard I also thought we passed the ball the best we have for months.”

Stevenson found himself in the unfamiliar right-back berth in Paisley and admitted he’d worried before kick-off about the prospect of facing Saints striker Esmael Goncalves, scorer of four goals in as many matches for the Buddies following his arrival on loan.

The left-sided star had ended up in that position as manager Fenlon juggled his side against St Johnstone in a bid to get back into the match but, he revealed, he wasn’t relishing 90 more minutes in that role.

He told Hibs TV: “Before the game I was a bit worried about the boy I was playing against. He’d never been out of the papers for banging in goals left, right and centre. But I thought I did okay. I was booked early on [for a foul on Paul Dummett] which did not help but I’ve played loads of games and should be able to play anywhere.

“I’m happy to do that but if we win you enjoy it a lot more.”