Hibernian 2-2 St Mirren: Hosts come from behind in frustrating draw

Hibernian came from two goals down to claim a frustrating Scottish Premiership draw with St Mirren at Easter Road.

An extraordinary first half saw the visitors take a shock lead with goals by Conor McCarthy and Tony Andreu.

Then the hosts bounced back before the break with efforts from Scott Allan and Christian Doidge.

Allan came close to stealing a winner when his corner hit the crossbar 10 minutes from time.

Victories for Livingston and Kilmarnock means Jack Ross' Hibs are four points adrift in sixth place and four above eighth.

A point offers St Mirren little solace near the bottom of the table, where they now sit just three points above bottom spot.

• Reaction & as it happened

Hibs fight back to claim point

There were very early hints that we might be in for a capital cracker when Doidge missed an absolute sitter in the second minute, after Darryl Horgan planted a perfect cross right on to his forehead. His blushes were spared by the lineman's flag for offside.

St Mirren settled well after that early scare and went ahead 13 minutes in to the match. A Cameron Macpherson corner met a flashing header from McCarthy and the defender claimed his first goal for the Paisley club in only his fourth game since joining in January.

Five minutes later, the visitors' lead was doubled after they showed composure and patience in possession, finished off deftly with Ilkay Durmus's fine run and cutback, met perfectly by Andreu. In between the goals, a fine close-range save from Vaclav Hladky denied Martin Boyle and kept Hibs frustrated.

Hope returned shortly after, when Allan started and finished a nice passage of play, feeding Boyle, who laid the ball back into his path for a sweet finish.

St Mirren were far from deflated, however, and created several chances to restore their two-goal lead. Durmus and Andreu both went close, while a Macpherson free kick was badly fumbled by Ofir Marciano, who recovered before any major damage was done.

That turned out to be a key moment for the home side, who equalised just before half time. Stephane Omeonga's cross was met by a looping Doidge header for the striker's sixth goal in five games.

Hibs went in level at the break, but only because Andreu didn't take advantage of a glorious opportunity to score St Mirren's third.

With so much to live up to, the second half couldn't quite hit the heights of the first, but there were chances at either end. Durmus forced Marciano into more work with a dangerous shot-turned-cross before Junior Morais headed inches wide when St Mirren threatened again.

Hibs introduced new boy Paul McGinn at right-back in place of David Gray at the break, and they almost took the lead when Darren McGregor met Allan's free kick with a powerful header. only to watch Hladky claw the ball away for a corner.

Allan was then just a matter of inches away from a second goal, hitting the crossbar directly from a corner kick with just over 10 minutes left.

It's perhaps no great surprise that things were a little bit anticlimactic after the break but a point apiece seems just about right, following a game rich in entertainment, goalmouth action and good football.

Man of the match - Scott Allan

He scored a lovely goal, hit the crossbar straight from a corner kick, and his range of passes was as impressive as ever. He was at the heart of most of Hibs' creativity.

Honourable mention must go to a couple of St Mirren players. Durmus was a constant menace down the left, setting up a goal and nearly scoring one himself.

Jonathan Obika also led the line superbly for the visitors and was part of the reason they were able to play a lot of their football in the Hibs half. Well played, both sides.

'The draw is probably a fair result' - reaction

Hibernian head coach Jack Ross: "Over the last two or three months our home record has been good. However, the circumstances of the game changed that a little bit.

"We had to show character and resilience to come back. It wasn't one of our better days overall but when you have a game like that and still take something from it then that's encouraging."

St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin: "When you go two up you need to manage the game a little bit better and I'm kind of kicking myself a little bit because we carried on pressing.

"In doing that we probably allowed Scott Allan too much space in behind. And that allows Hibs back in to the game. Fair play to them. The draw is probably a fair result."