Hibernian 3 St Johnstone 0

2002
Scottish Premier League
Attendance:

Scorers:
Hibernian: Murray (2), O'Connor.

This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday on Sunday 3rd March 2002

Bobby dazzler lightens Hibs

THE galvanising effect that new management can have on a struggling side was never more apparent than in the east end of Edinburgh yesterday. Bobby Williamson marked his first match in charge of Hibernian with a win and, in so doing, all but consigned St Johnstone to the First Division.

The man who joined the club from Kilmarnock last week did at the first time of asking what Hibs had not managed to do in 18 matches and over four months. This was their first SPL victory since Hearts were beaten on October 21. Goodness only knows what the unfortunate Franck Sauzee must have made of it all.

If this showdown between the top flight’s bottom clubs was not so much about the three points as the effect it would have on the morale of both sides, one can only assume that, while Hibs can breathe easy under their new manager, St Johnstone will be struggling between now and the end of the season to do anything other than curl up and die.

Two goals by Ian Murray, a third by Garry O’Connor and a red card in the first half for Keigan Parker were the important features of a so-called six-pointer, which leaves St Johnstone 12 points behind their Edinburgh rivals and without a hope of salvaging the situation. The best defender Jim Weir could do at full-time was offer his shirt to a young Saints fan as a means of apology.

For Williamson, this match was about more than the accumulation of three points, or even the chance virtually to guarantee his new team a place in next season’s Premier League. It was also an opportunity to win over the Hibs support, many of whom remain loyal to the memory of Sauzee, and are less than inspired by the arrival of a man who recommends that entertainment seekers visit the cinema rather than football stadiums. By the modest standards of Hibs and St Johnstone this season, their latest clash had the potential to be something of a blockbuster.

The preponderance of players on the pitch who were turning out against their former teams further enhanced an occasion which was already of rare importance in a Premier League season devoid of meaningful matches. St Johnstone’s Darren Dods, Paul Kane and Paul Hartley used to ply their trade at Easter Road, while Hibs’ John O’Neil came to prominence in Perth. All would be excused were they not entirely comfortable with the punishment they were hoping to inflict upon former colleagues. It took only a matter of seconds to see how this one was going to unfold.

Williamson was given the kind of flyer that would have been dismissed as a false start had it happened in the 100 metres. Little more than a minute had been played when Garry O’Connor chased down a pass into the channel by Craig Brewster, and performed an ugly twist of his left knee to cut the ball back. The finish, though, was altogether more attractive, Murray sliding it across on-loan goalkeeper Ludovic Roy and in off the far post.

Although Sauzee’s name had echoed around Easter Road before kick-off in a tribute of almost moving proportions, the large home support also saw fit to accord Williamson a warm reception when he took his bow on the touchline. One wonders how he would have been treated had he tried the trick in the 37th minute. It was at that dramatic and decisive point in the match that the roof fell in on St Johnstone thanks to a combination of their own stupidity and incompetence.

First, there was the goal that doubled Hibs’ lead. Frederic Arpinon laid the ball wide to Mathias Jack, whose chipped cross to the back post found Murray with barely a challenge to distract him. The 21-year-old’s downward header didn’t exactly come into the ‘bullet’ category, but it was enough to prompt a fumbling response by the goalkeeper, who succeeded only in helping it over the line.

Then, in the best traditions of Neil McCann, there was the needless offence by Parker which earned him a sending-off almost as soon as play had resumed. The young striker had nearly scored for St Johnstone in the third minute with a first-time volley over the bar that was reminiscent of McCann’s opener for Rangers in Rotterdam. The dismissal, too, was as daft as that of the Rangers winger.

Booked in the 29th minute for diving in the penalty-box, under a challenge by Murray, the St Johnstone striker committed a rash tackle on the same player eight minutes later. Referee John Rowbotham took one look at the incident and flourished a red card, which might as well have had directions to the First Division written on it.

That Hibs had earned what looked like an unassailable position at half-time was not in doubt. They might have headed for the dressing-room to experience Williamson’s first interval team talk with a three-goal lead had O’Connor not been ruled offside when he knocked home the rebound after Roy had parried a shot by Ulises De La Cruz.

St Johnstone, though, will argue that circumstances conspired against them. Hartley might have levelled the score when he scampered on to a misjudged header by Gary Smith, but goalkeeper Nick Colgan produced a swift enough response to narrow the angle. Grant Murray deserved better than to see his crisp volley on the drop flash by the base of the post. They say you make your own luck.

Some managers are born with it. If confidence was the commodity Williamson was most anxious to instil in his new players, he could hardly have asked for a more accommodating fixture than one which pitted his side against the league’s bottom club. Add to that a goal in the second minute, as well as an early sending-off, and it was hardly surprising to find Hibs cruising through the second half.

Even the third goal was as much St Johnstone’s doing as it was that of Hibs. When Dods slipped on the notorious surface of Edinburgh’s most famous allotment, O’Connor capitalised with a surging run into the penalty area before thrashing the ball past Roy and into the top left-hand corner. Many of the thousand-plus supporters who had travelled from Perth had gone before his celebration ended.

Substitute Grant Brebner was booked for diving in the penalty-box, and O’Connor should have claimed his second, and Hibs’ fourth. His first touch, though, was poor, and the man who set him up, John O’Neil, punched the air in anger.

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