St Mirren 1 Hibs 0: Hughes forced to rethink his tactics

As a lifelong fan of the club the Easter Road boss shares the philosophy of most of his fellow supporters, a team committed to attacking football, happy to concede goals as long as they manage to score one more than the opposition.

Unfortunately, however, that's not proving to be the case.

Despite possessing a strikeforce which claimed more than 50 goals last season, they continue to concede at an alarming rate. And those wealth of goals last term masked, to a great extent, the loss of 55 in just 38 SPL matches, although they once boasted the tightest defence in the country.

Although it was only one goal on this occasion, it was enough to see what has been a miserable record in Paisley since 1999 extended yet again, but Craig Dargo's strike was the 12th lost in just five competitive matches, goals which have seen Hibs crash out of the Europa League and given them just three points from the opening salvo of league matches.

Only 48 hours before this latest setback, Hughes had bemoaned the fact his team appeared to need to claim two, or even three goals if they were to have any chance of winning. And now, it appears, enough is enough as far as he is concerned. He said: "I like to play a style of football that is expansive and good on the eye.

"Maybe I have to have a right good look at it. Maybe we are not as good as we think we are and it maybe I have to start picking a team that is hard to beat and resolute."

There's little doubt that opposition managers believe that if they can snuff out the threat of Anthony Stokes and Derek Riordan in particular – although Colin Nish's contribution of 12 last season shouldn't be overlooked – and "get in the faces" of Hughes' players then they are in with a real chance.

It was an observation made by Hamilton manager Billy Reid last season as his side enjoyed back-to-back victories over the Capital outfit at New Douglas Park and an approach adopted by Saint Mirren boss Danny Lennon, someone well versed in the way of Hibs following his own career at Easter Road.

As such, Saints proved to be hard-working, well-organised although, at times, forced into some gritty defending as Hibs totally dominated the opening 45 minutes without being able to create any clear-cut chances.

The openings which did come their way were courtesy of free-kicks, Derek Riordan curling one inches wide and then forcing Buddies goalkeeper Paul Gallacher into a tremendous save, down low to his left.

Certainly having Riordan is a potent threat but Hibs simply cannot continue to rely on his talismanic effect from such situations or Stokes' ability to sniff out a goal in the penalty area – for as long as they have him which may not be too much longer given Celtic's interest. On this occasion Stokes appeared distracted, contributing little throughout the 90 minutes with Hughes admitting his mind may well have been elsewhere while adamant his decision to choose the Republic of Ireland striker despite what has been going on over the past few days was right.

Hughes, who was seen exchanging words with the 22-year-old as he left the pitch said: "I felt he was poor, to be honest. I have seen him better but I can understand it with everything on his mind."

Any team, of course, relies on all 11 players, not just two however talented they may be and Hughes admitted three or four just hadn't been "at it" during the 90 minutes at St Mirren Park, again hinting he's ready to impose a different approach.

He said: "I think we got out-worked. St Mirren were resolute, they were solid, had a good shape about them and worked for everything.

"We had three or four who were just not at it which is not acceptable come showtime, match-day. They let themselves and their team-mates down. Hopefully they will bounce back but the only time you get anything in football is when you put in a shift. St Mirren wanted it and worked that bit harder than us."Having said that, Hughes was right, at least on the evidence of the first half, to insist he couldn't see Saints scoring even if Hibs themselves hadn't been as potent as he might have liked in front of goal, unable to get down the flanks and ask questions of a defence which had conceded seven goals in the space of four days.

Once again, though, Hibs found themselves behind through their inherent inability to defend a set-piece. As proceedings became a bit tetchy with Saints striker Gareth Wardlaw booked for exacting a bit of retribution on Sol Bamba following a couple of tough challenges from the big defender and Steven Thicot, the Ivory Coast star conceded a needless foul in reminding the former Cowdenbeath player who was boss.

Garry Brady fired in the resultant free-kick, Darren McGregor got the jump on Chris Hogg and Dargo sneaked in on the blind side of Thicot to drill home the sort of goal which has earned him a living over the years.

Hughes sighed: "I'd been saying I didn't see them scoring but had also said I hoped we didn't get our pocket picked. For the ball to come into our box, for them to win the header and then get the seconds as well made it a really cheap goal.

"But that's the goals we lose at Hibs, cheap goals."

As he rang the changes in a bid to retrieve the situation, Hughes found himself angering the travelling support by replacing Riordan for the final 20 minutes, a move greeted by the boos which also rang out on the final whistle. Admitting he'd been reluctant to take the striker off, Hughes insisted he had done so in a bid to inject greater pace which, he felt, Danny Galbraith, who had initially come on for left-back Paul Hanlon, supplied when he moved further forward.

His tinkering, however, came to nought as Lennon clocked up his first win as Saints manager, leaving his Easter Road counterpart with a fortnight to reflect before his team are back in action, Hughes claiming, as many probably felt, that his team had punched well above their weight last season.

He said: "Maybe we have to have a look at it and make sure we are keeping clean sheets and are hard to beat. "I don't want to dampen things, but there's a bit of transition going on at the club just now and we have a lot of hard work in front of us."

Should Stokes move on – and perhaps Bamba, too, given the reported interest from Paris St Germain – the task ahead for Hughes will become all the greater although he insisted that should that pair, as he hopes, remain, he's still looking for two players before the transfer deadline tomorrow night.

St Mirren: (3-5-2) Gallacher; McGregor, Potter, Mair; McAusland (Van Zanten 90), H Murray, Brady, McGowan, Travner; Dargo (Lynch 69), Wardlaw. Subs not used: Samson, Robb, Love, McLennan, McKernon.

Hibs: (4-4-2) Brown; Thicot (Rankin 71), Hogg, Bamba, Hanlon (Galbraith 61); Wotherspoon, De Graaf, Miller, Riordan (I Murray 71); Nish, Stokes.

Subs not used: Smith, Stephens, Stevenson, Currie.