Martin Boyle scored Hibs' second goal in their 2-0 victory over St JohnstoneSNS

Martin Boyle scored Hibs' second goal in their 2-0 victory over St Johnstone

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16/03/25

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Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Hibernian head coach David Gray enjoyed a "fantastic day" at Easter Road as the Edinburgh side secured their place in the top six with a comfortable win over relegation-threatened St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership.

Junior Hoilett and Martin Boyle both scored in the opening 45 minutes before Keiron Bowie knocked home a stoppage-time penalty to secure the three points and confirm Hibs' spot in the top six with two games to go before the split.

"I'm very happy," Gray said. "I think that was a complete performance and you can't ask for any more.

"All in all, a fantastic day's work and we fully deserved it given the performance.

"At the start of the season, the aim is to finish in the top six minimum for this football club. Then you start to look towards European places and if that's achievable. That's the target, that's the aim."

After a fairly even opening 20 minutes, the home side took the lead.

Boyle had an effort saved by the feet of Saints goalkeeper Andy Fisher, but seconds later, after some really poor defending by the visitors, Hoilett collected the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box and curled a terrific shot into the top right-hand corner.

It should have been two moments later when Myko Kuharevich inexplicably fired over from six yards after a brilliant ball by Jordan Obita.

But the home fans did not have to wait long for the second.

Saints captain Sven Sprangler was dispossessed 25 yards out by Hoilett, who played in Boyle to score with ease from inside the box.

Visiting manager Simo Valakari showed his displeasure at his teams' first-half performance and made a triple change at half-time, with Taylor Steven, Duke-McKenna and Benji Kimpioka being introduced into the fray.

However, the wave of attacks towards the visitors' goal continued with Boyle and Kuharevich coming close to increasing the home side's advantage.

St Johnstone had goalkeeper Andy Fisher to thank after he saved brilliantly from substitute Bowie.

However, in the third minute of stoppage time, there was nothing Fisher could do when Bowie was brought down inside the box by Daniel Balodis, with the former Raith Rovers striker making no mistake from 12 yards.

Hibs deserving of third-place fight

After a fairly even start, this turned out to be a convincing victory for Gray and his players.

It is clear to see they are playing with enormous confidence and deserve all the plaudits that are coming their way.

The battle for a third-place finish is not one they would have thought they would have been involved in after the opening few months of the season.

However, the table does not lie and it is exactly where they deserve to be after a magnificent run of form in the league.

Saints facing tough end to season

For St Johnstone, they have seven cup finals between now and the end of the season.

They simply cannot afford to give away the type of goals they lost to Hibs.

Performances like this will simply not be good enough and, on this evidence, it will be a really tough end of the campaign for Saints fans.

What they said

Hibs head coach David Gray: "I'm very happy. I think that was the complete performance and you can't ask for any more.

"All in all a fantastic day's work and we fully deserved it given the performance."

St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari: "I have no complaints [about the result]. We did not play well enough to get anything out of the match.

"We didn't play at our best level today and we didn't get the result. We need to own this defeat and learn from it."

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