St Johnstone 1-0 Hibernian: Graham Carey goal lifts hosts to eighth in Scottish Premiership
- Published
Graham Carey celebrates the only goal at McDiarmid Park
Graham Carey's sweet strike fired St Johnstone up to eighth in the Scottish Premiership with a dominant, albeit narrow, victory against Hibernian.
The midfielder capped an impressive performance with the only goal of the game. A poorly worked goal kick aimlessly fired out by Dylan Levitt landed right in his path, with Carey ruthlessly arrowing his finish in off the post.
Craig Levein's side thought they had a first-half lead when Max Kucheriavyi headed home, but after a lengthy VAR review for infringement, the celebrations were ceased.
Hibs failed to truly test Dimitar Mitov. Jair Tavares came close, twice, but it was a disappointing showing from Nick Montgomery's side, who had won four of their last five and now drop to sixth.
Despite conceding a late equaliser against Motherwell last week, St Johnstone were lively and full of confidence. The Levein effect is still very much brewing.
In an open, end-to-end encounter where goals appeared destined to flow, Kucheriavyi bundled beyond Marshall and Saints thought they had taken the lead for the fourth game in a row. But Diallang Jaiyesimi was judged to have been too tight to the former Scotland keeper.
The impressive Carey whipped in a dangerous, wind-assisted free-kick from distance that confused all and just drifted wide.
But nothing could stop his arrowing effort kiss off the post and fly beyond Marshall for a well-deserved lead.
Despite conceding, Marshall prevented three more with a string of sensational saves, twice denying Kucheriavyi and Saints' youngest ever player, Fran Franczak, on his first start.
Tavares must have thought he was smashing in an equaliser when the ball found him unmarked at the back post, but Saints blocked to preserve the clean sheet and win.
Late VAR intervention caused typical chaos in the closing stages, with Dylan Vente's initial red card for a high-foot collision with Liam Gordon eventually reduced to a booking.
Player of the match - Graham Carey
Graham Carey was here, there and everywhere for St Johnstone. Long before he scored, he was already in line for this accolade. He's in such a rich vein of form.
Dominant performance from Saints - analysis
A thoroughly deserved victory for St Johnstone and Levein makes it three unbeaten for the Perth club.
The back five, including 16-year-old full debutant Franczak, never looked troubled by a fearsome Hibs front four. St Johnstone were winning battles in midfield and consistently forcing errors from a lax Hibs defence in the final third.
Carey spearheaded the host's attacks with aplomb, while Kucheriavyi was just a goal away from a superb performance. More performances with attacking quality like this afternoon will see the resurgent Saints continue to climb the table.
The Saints had 14 attempts at goal, with half hitting the target, while Hibs failed to muster a single shot on target.
A lacklustre frontline are likely saved from any post-match debrief vitriol due to the carelessness in possession from those behind them - such carelessness that led to the Saints' winning goal.
What they said
St Johnstone manager Craig Levein: "Any win is good but there were some other things that were pleasing for me. I thought our work rate, effort and commitment to each other was excellent.
"Fran (Franczak) has been a breath of fresh air in training. He does everything we do in training with great enthusiasm and energy. My only concern with bringing him in was his position. He's a forward, not a defender. But he's so competitive that he enjoyed the contest and I thought he was fantastic."
Hibernian manager Nick Montgomery: "Disappointing result, disappointing performance in patches. We got punished for a mistake and we didn't capitalise on mistakes they made. It was one of those games. It seemed like a mistake was going to cost one team a goal and we weren't good enough attacking-wise as a team, we didn't create enough chances. Full credit to them, they defended really well, put lots of bodies behind the ball and it just wasn't to be today.
"I felt in the first half, we started the game well. We had a lot of the ball without hurting them. We needed a little more energy and creativity as a team to break them down. We capitalised on some mistakes but didn't finish them off."
What's next?
St Johnstone travel to Ibrox on Wednesday evening (19:45 GMT) to take on Rangers, while Hibernian are back in action next Saturday (15:00) away to Ross County.