Toyosi Olusanya sees his shot saved by Jordan SmithSNS

St Mirren's Toyosi Olusanya had a second-half shot saved by Jordan Smith

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

Hibernian head coach David Gray said his side were "reliant" on goalkeeper Jordan Smith to keep a clean sheet in their goalless Scottish Premiership draw with St Mirren.

Smith made a few fine stops as the hosts made it 12 games unbeaten and consolidated their hopes of a top-six finish, despite Alasana Manneh receiving a red card just 13 minutes into his debut.

The Gambia midfielder, a graduate of the Barcelona youth academy, came on in the 70th minute, was booked a minute later for a trip, then saw yellow again for a reckless aerial challenge on Killian Phillips.

"The clean sheet is a big positive because we pride ourselves on that," Gray said. "That's the biggest thing, because if you're keeping clean sheets then you can't lose games of football, so that's a good habit to get into.

"We were reliant on the goalkeeper, makes a big save in the second half. If you look at Rocky [Bushiri] getting man of the match, his defensive display was excellent.

"I actually thought we defended the box reasonably well and we needed to be defensively good because we were by no means good enough to really go and win the game.

"I thought it was a really poor game with no real quality within it. We found a way to not lose the game and, especially going down to 10 men as well, when the character would be getting questioned and tested, it would be easy to fold."

The visitors held on with 10 men for a point and remain in fifth place, while St Mirren jump to sixth, above Kilmarnock on goal difference.

Solid Hibs lack clinical edge

While Gray may have fixed Hibs' vulnerability at the back, his side failed to muster an effort on target in Paisley.

They came close. Warren O'Hora's first half-header really should have rippled the net and the effort that Hemming saved in the second half would have been ruled out for offside anyway.

It was a slow start too. St Mirren flew out of the blocks and Hibs were under the cosh, but crucially, they survived. Six months ago, they would have wilted.

There is a new confidence in the backline and, although there have only been four clean sheets on this unbeaten run, Smith has become a vital figure in goal - highlighted by his incredible double save to deny Toyosi Olusanya and then Mark O'Hara on the follow-up.

Impressively, Hibs' stretch of 10 league games without defeat is their joint-longest unbeaten streak in the top flight in six years. The new-found resilience looks likely to cement a top-six finish.

Stodgy St Mirren turn match into dogfight

Such was St Mirren's fast start, Hibs dropped Josh Campbell back from an attacking midfield role to sitter to try to match up the hosts.

It worked, turning the game into a more agricultural affair and stopping St Mirren's attack.

Olusanya only broke in behind once, as player of the match Bushiri largely kept him well handled.

Perhaps the more direct play suits St Mirren. It certainly suits the pitch, which has come under criticism in recent weeks and had a real effect on the quality on show.

Worryingly, St Mirren have now registered the most blanks of any Premiership team this season, failing to score in 11 of their 26 games.

What they said

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "I thought we were very good first half. We took the game to them, pressed really well against a Hibs side who have been on an incredible run, so it didn't look a big difference in levels.

"We were the better side in the first half. Second half, not helped by the pitch, it becomes really, really scrappy."

Hibernian head coach David Gray: "It certainly wasn't a classic. There was no real quality in the game, we can play miles better. We've played a lot better this season and lost games, so that's a positive to take.

"The way we finished, down to 10 men, is disappointing, but to make sure we kept a clean sheet is a big positive."

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