Martin Boyle on what Hibs said at HT v St Mirren as he sends warning to rivals

Martin Boyle scored a last minute brace as Hibs reach Scottish League Cup semi-final

Hibs are currently celebrating reaching the Scottish League Cup semi-final. Nick Montgomery’s side beat St Mirren 4-2 at Easter Road with all of the Hibees goals coming in the second half.

The Saints’ Scott Tanser opened up the scoring just before half-time with Elie Youan and Dylan Vente quickly settled the score after the break, before St Mirren once again equalised with a goal from Keanu Baccus. However, the final ten minutes of play saw Hibs star Martin Boyle produce yet another stand-out performance as he scored in the 80th and 90+3rd minute to secure the club’s trip to Hampden where they will face Aberdeen.

Speaking to the press after the win, the Australian international said: “Well we eventually got there. It was a very important win and it’s great to have another trip to Hampden. The fans can look forward to that, we can look forward to it. There is a lot of work to be done before then but we can definitely look forward to the occasion.”

Despite Boyle’s two goals, the 30-year-old was disappointed to not come away with a hat-trick. It was, however, evident that the performance against the Saints was very much a match of two halves with the Hibees bouncing into action following the break and having three names on the scorecard is something we can expect to see a lot more of from the growing number of attacking options.

“It’s great and it is amazing to play in. There is so much flair and I just found out that Dylan [Vente] has had five shots and scored five goals so that’s a pretty good stat, isn’t it? We just need to get him into the box more often!

“Obviously, his link up play is fantastic, Elie’s pace is electric, and Christian Doidge, we know what he brings, and Alfie [Adam Le Fondre] is an experienced player and helps us a lot around the place and his link up play and experience is very important to us and we are all striving towards the same goal.”

When asked what the talk was at half-time, Boyle revealed his new boss simply said to remain ‘patient’.

“I’m very disappointed (to not get the hat-trick) and it is going to chew me up all night! But, to be fair, it was nice to score two goals. The first half I was pretty non-existent so in the second half it was good to show up!

“(Montgomery) just said we should stay patient. We worked hard in training and we knew that they would sit behind the ball. They were 1-0 up away from home so we needed to remain patient and try to shift them around and try to get into positions to score goals.

“I felt we got off to a great start [after the break] with the early goal and we dominated after that.We did concede a sloppy goal but it was great character from the lads to get the reaction.”

St Mirren have gone unbeaten in the league and currently sit second behind Celtic. Pundits lauded the win as a ‘statement result’ but for Boyle it marked just the beginning.

“You could say (it was a statement) but it was a cup competition and both teams were going at it. I think it was a great game for the neutral and fantastic for us. But we know there is a lot more that the manager wants to instil. We believe it is just the beginning, for us, of a new journey and hopefully we can keep progressing,” he continued.

“We have got to be confident. We are scoring a lot of goals at the minute which is good. We are getting a lot of chances and scoring a lot of goals. If we weren’t creating all those chances then there would be an issue but we are playing good football at the moment and getting into good positions to score goals.”

The Hibees will now face Aberdeen in early November after the draw was determined following Rangers 4-0 win over Livingston. However, Boyle indicated that the draw was of little matter following the win, saying: “I would have been happy with anyone. It is the luck of the draw but, against Aberdeen, I’m sure it will be a great occasion for the fans, for us, and it will be a good game.”

Boyle is no stranger to electric performances in the League Cup semi-finals, scoring a hat-trick in a 3-1 win over Rangers in November 2021, and speaking after the win over St Mirren it’s clear the 30-year-old forward is hopeful of producing another match-winning performance.

“I would certainly take that again! It was a good occasion for me and for the club. I would be happy with any sort of victory but a performance like that, individually, would be great and I can certainly hope.”