Joe Newell for MVP, breaking through the lines, a rock-solid defence – 3 things we learned from St Mirren 0-3 Hibs

Craig Fowler gives his take on Saturday’s commanding win at St Mirren.

Joe Newell celebrates with Martin Boyle after netting Hibs' second of the game. Picture: SNS

Joe Newell for Most Valuable Player

Jack Ross has used the 4-4-2 more than any other shape this season with mixed success – well, at least in terms of performances. You can't really argue with three wins (all away from home) and a draw from four when they've started the game lined up in the once ubiquitous formation. However, fans were far from pleased with the performance against Dundee United and the first-half of the home draw with Motherwell.

He brought it back for yesterday's trip to St Mirren and it certainly worked. Hibs threatened right from the off and netted twice in the opening 20 to take a stranglehold of the game.

Bagging the second of those was Joe Newell. The midfielder has been inconsistent in terms of performances, much like his team. In fact, it's not too much of a stretch to say when Newell plays well (Kilmarnock, Livingston and now St Mirren) Hibs play well.

You're always going to get the same type of performance from Alex Gogic mopping up in front of the defence, but Newell is key to making this system work. He has to battle for possession, stop Hibs from being overrun, spray passes around and provide central thrust to the attack. It's a very tough ask, but if Ross can get the kind of showing we saw yesterday on a regular basis from the 27-year-old then the Easter Road boss may well have found his best system.

Hibs must move vertically

Hibs as a team were much better with their movement in the 4-4-2 than what we've seen from them previously. It's easy to become static and bogged down in what is essentially a flat formation that makes it harder to move between the lines. In order to counteract that, players need to move vertically and with pace and purpose.

Against St Mirren it was obvious there was a real drive in the Hibs ranks to get forward players on the overlap. Martin Boyle did it twice before the visitors opened the scoring, darting beyond Christian Doidge and Kevin Nisbet, while Paul McGinn provided another crucial example to set up Nisbet to score the first.

Sometimes in football we place too much blame on managers. If the team looks static, maybe that's the fault of the players. It's difficult to continually make these sort of lung-busting runs, and even harder to do them in the right areas. When Hibs move off the ball urgently and intelligently, it's hard to imagine them being stopped by nine of the 11 other Scottish Premiership sides.

The defence continues to shine

That's now seven games and Hibs have conceded three goals, none from open play. That’s 630 minutes.

It's a thoroughly impressive achievement, especially when you consider it's the same group as last term, with the exception of 18-year-old Josh Doig coming in for veteran Lewis Stevenson.

Hibs conceded 11 goals in their final four games last term, including five at home to Inverness and bottom-place Hearts. The work Ross has managed to do over this summer (of all summers!) really needs to be commended.

Sure, St Mirren should've had a first-half penalty and Nathan Sheron should have buried his chance from close range just before the break. But you're always going to need a little luck in football to stop from conceding and Hibs certainly earned it given their resolute performance the rest of the game.

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