Talking points as Hibs survive late scare to beat St Mirren in race for European football

First-half goalscorers Will Fish and Élie Youan celebrate the defender's goal

First-half goals from Élie Youan and Will Fish were enough to earn Hibs a 2-1 win against St Mirren on Saturday, with Alex Greive on target for the visitors.

It was billed as the ‘biggest game of the season’ by Easter Road boss Lee Johnson, and Hibs sprang out of the traps with Youan netting early on. Fish added a second but Hibs were somewhat profligate in front of goal and it took some dogged defending by the hosts after Greive had given the Buddies a glimmer of hope to ensure the points would stay in Edinburgh.

Settled team

Given the catalogue of injuries suffered by Hibs this season, chances for Johnson to name the same team from week to week have been few and far between but he was able to do so against St Mirren. You could see the benefits – cohesion in the defence, neat little backheels and flicks coming off more often than not. It probably contributed to Hibs holding firm in the face of a late onslaught – and given what’s at stake in the remaining four games, the manner of the victory may be just as important as the points themselves.

Élie at both ends

If you’ve seen much of Hibs this season, one term you probably wouldn’t use to describe Élie Youan would be ‘defensively-minded’ – understandably so given his attacking prowess, but there have been time he has been guilty of leaving the full-back somewhat high and dry. But against St Mirren he was getting back time after time to support Lewis Stevenson. His blistering pace and aerial ability has obvious benefits in the final third but he used them to great effect further back and his work rate was very impressive. Having just turned 24 there is still time for him to improve aspects of his game, and the Youan finishing the season looks much improved on the one that started the campaign.

Not making it easy

Hibs passed up more chances than they scored against the Buddies with Kevin Nisbet going close on a couple of occasions and Youan also threatening to score again in the second half. There were chances in the first period that might have ended in goals too. But as is so often the case with Hibs, they took the route marked ‘nerve-wracking, backs-to-the-wall’ rather than ‘easy street’. But to their credit they defended well collectively and individually, and managed to avoid what once would have been seen as an inevitable late collapse.

Defence digs in

Defenders never seem to get the same amount of praise as other players on the pitch but the Hibs back four can be very happy with their afternoon’s work, apart from Greive’s goal. CJ Egan-Riley and Lewis Stevenson as the full-backs more often than not got the better of their man and were in the right place at the right time while Will Fish and Paul Hanlon were impressive in the middle. Fish is benefiting from having Hanlon alongside him but he adds an aerial threat in attack and notched his third goal in 14 starts. Jimmy Jeggo also did a fine job protecting the defence – the Australian won’t ever win prizes for style but he is very effective at breaking up play and screening the back four.