St Mirren 1 - 3 Hibernian: First win in six for Edinburgh side

Darren McGregor, right, celebrates scoring Hibs' second, and decisive, goal in their 3-1 victory over St Mirren. Picture: SNS.

Eddie May, head of the academy set-up at Hibs, and his assistant Grant Murray were in charge in the absence of head coach Neil Lennon and his assistant Garry Parker, who were reportedly suspended on Friday night following a meeting with chief executive Leeann Dempster.

Saints striker Simeon Jackson opened the scoring from close range in the 24th minute, but the Leith side came back in second half and levelled through substitute Oli Shaw in the 61st minute.

Defender Darren McGregor lashed home a second in the 70th minute, with former Saint Stevie Mallan adding a late third to earn Hibs their first league win in six games.

Sorry Saints remain bottom of the table, one point behind Dundee.

May, who made it clear before the game that he was not interested in the head coach’s role on a full-time basis, made a couple of changes to the visitors, with captain David Gray fit to start for the first time since October and Vykintas Slivka recalled to midfield.

Saints boss Oran Kearney gave a debut to Danish winger Anders Dreyer, signed on loan from Brighton on Saturday, and Kyle McAllister made his first start since returning from Derby.

It took until the 18th minute for the first serious effort on goal, but Gray’s powerful header from a Mallan corner just cleared the bar.

St Mirren’s first attempt resulted in a goal.

Midfielder Brad Lyons skipped past McGregor and cut the ball back across goal for Jackson to slide in to net his fifth goal of the season.

Hibs could have been further behind in the 33rd minute when midfielder Greg Tansey’s free-kick from the right was deflected fortuitously to Jackson running in behind the Easter Road defence, but goalkeeper Ofir Marciano made a good instinctive save.

Hibs were offering little in attack, but just before the break winger Daryl Horgan had a decent drive from 20 yards saved by St Mirren keeper Vaclav Hladky.

The Leith side upped their efforts in the second half.

In the 56th minute Hibs midfielder Ryan Gauld robbed Saints skipper Stephen McGinn, but his drive from 25 yards sped past a post.

On the hour mark Marciano’s mistake presented the ball to McAllister 35 yards from goal, but the Saints player took the ball away from goal and his long-range effort missed the target.

Around 60 seconds later Saints were made to pay as, with a wonderful pass, Mallen set up Shaw, on for Daryl Horgan five minutes after the break, and he slipped the ball through the legs of Hladky from 14 yards.

The resurgent visitors took the lead when Florian Kamberi’s header from a Mallen corner was blocked on the line by Buddies defender Paul McGinn, only for McGregor to follow in and hammer the ball high into the net.

Stunned Saints came back strongly and Marciano made good saves from Stephen McGinn and McAllister before Hibs broke away in the 87th minute and Shaw set up Mallen to side-foot in from 14 yards to seal the points.