Hibs 1-2 St Johnstone: Whole season in an afternoon

THIS was ninety minutes that summed up Hibs' season perfectly and went a long way to explaining exactly why Colin Calderwood's players find themselves languishing in the lower half of the SPL table.

While the Easter Road outfit's record against those sides comprising the top six has been nothing to rave about, it's been their results from matches with the clubs from Inverness Caledonian Thistle down that find them where they are today.

Calderwood himself admitted his players simply haven't produced the goods often enough against the teams in and around them and the outcomes of their three most recent games highlight his point perfectly.

A single point gained from the visits of Hamilton, St Mirren and now St Johnstone merely serves to underline why even seventh place may prove beyond a club that has enjoyed a top-half finish in each of the last six seasons.

While Calderwood has done much to rid opposition sides of the notion that Hibs can be a soft touch, an encounter with the Capital club probably still doesn't strike that sense of fear or apprehension it once did.

In fact, the feeling remains that a club in trouble possibly even relishes a clash against Hibs.

Take Aberdeen for instance, seven straight defeats including a 9-0 mauling from Celtic and a 5-0 demolition by Hearts before a Boxing Day win in Edinburgh. Hamilton, too, enjoyed their day out at Easter Road a couple of weeks back, Billy Reid's men having suffered a run of 22 league matches without a win as they crashed to the foot of the table.

And now St Johnstone, the Perth side pitching up having not claimed an SPL goal of their own for more than 1100 minutes, a whole three months and twelve-and-a-half games only to find Jakub Divis' net twice.

The upshot is that Hibs have failed to beat Derek McInnes' team in four attempts, taking just two points out of a possible 12; have managed three from nine against Aberdeen; four out of nine from Caley; a similar tally from their three games with Accies - who they face again on Saturday - and marginally better with seven from four clashes against St Mirren.

Few, however, would have envisaged Saints ending their goal drought in this one, particularly when Akpo Sodje made it four in four as he outstripped the home defence to meet Paul Hanlon's long ball before lobbing it over the advancing Peter Enckelman.

That it was a goal Hibs hardly deserved having made another slow start was neither here nor there and even if it was the slenderest of leads, it still looked enough to ensure another miserable afternoon for the Perth club and their 213 fans seated in the South Stand.

McInnes, though, thought otherwise, having seen Liam Craig rise unopposed to power home a header from Danny Grainger's corner and then Kevin Moon scramble home the winner two minutes into added-on time as the home defence switched off for a second time.

A jubilant McInnes said: "You could see the weight lift off their shoulders when Craig scored, there was more purpose about us, more runs being made, more bodies in the box determined to make it a right good day rather than a decent day.

"I said before the game I felt we might have to come from behind to win - and that's the way it went. As ridiculous as it may seem given we've been struggling to score goals, I thought there was another one in us.

"My only concern was that we might run out of time, particularly when we saw Peter MacDonald's effort blocked late in the game."

Saints' brittle confidence soared with Craig's goal, his fifth in the last two seasons against Hibs, although McInnes was honest enough to admit his side enjoyed a fair slice of luck when Ricardo Vaz Te drilled a low shot across Enckelman only to see the ball crash back off the inside of the far post before Saints equalised.

McInnes reflected: "I said at the time that could be an important moment for us and thankfully that was the case. We haven't been getting a lot of luck recently, we got a bit there, but there was nothing lucky about our two goals."

Vaz Te could well have ended the game with a hat-trick, seeing Enckelman touch one shot over before Sodje struck and then knocking the ball too far in front of him as he attempted to take on one final defender rather than unleashing an early shot having been released by Hibs' goalscorer.

Calderwood said: "I thought we were fortunate to be up at half-time, we didn't play in the first half or show any quality, but then we could have been 2-0 up.

"We ran out of steam and impetus, their equaliser stalled us. Without being dominant or making too many chances we looked as if we were coping. But we only coped for 75 minutes, we didn't defend their corner and then their winner comes from our throw-in inside their half and in injury time, which is disappointing.

"A lot of effort has to go into winning a game and taking the points and we did not cross the line. That's the reason we lost and it's a terrific lesson for us."

A predictable chorus of boos rang out around a sparsely populated Easter Road at the final whistle, Calderwood's wish, noted in the matchday programme, that his players "finish the season with a flourish and give the supporters something to cheer about" left unfulfilled.

A single point from three homes games, with all due respect to the visitors, simply isn't good enough, as Callum Booth admitted. The teenage star said: "We've led 1-0 in each of our last two games at home and we should be going on to win. They didn't have to work hard for their equaliser, which is disappointing, but we have to keep going, we have three games to go and we just can't let our heads go down."

It was a point made by McInnes, who insisted confidence is often an overlooked ingredient in the make-up of any football player.

He said: "Sometimes players can forget how good they are.

"I told them at half-time that not one of them was playing to the level they are capable of, that they'd forgotten how good they were and that's why they are playing in the SPL."