The 'heroic' interventions that denied Hibs at St Johnstone as Simo Valakari pays Hibees a compliment
Saints boss spoke after their 2-1 victory over Hibs
St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari praised his ‘heroic’ defence and goalkeeper after they held out for victory against ‘a very good Hibs side’.
The Perth side leapfrogged their opponents in the SPFL table after a hard fought 2-1 victory at McDiarmid Park. Saints striker Josh Fowler opened the scoring but this was soon cancelled out by Hibs marksman Nathan Lowe. A challenge from Hibees hero Martin Boyle then allowed Fowler to double his tally from the penalty spot as the hosts went into half time a goal up.
After the break, David Gray’s men threw the kitchen sink at the Premiership new boys, but some heroic last-ditch defending from former Hibee Zach Mitchell, as well as some smart stops from Toby Steward in the Saints goal secured the three points. Valakari was quick to recognise the effort from his stoppers as they won on home soil for the second game in a row.
Valakari lauds ‘heroic’ Saints defence in Hibs victory
Lowe’s equaliser came courtesy of a mistake in possession from St Johnstone midfielder Reece McAlear. In his post-match interview with Premier Sports, Valakari insists that there was no finger pointing in the dressing room, before praising his ‘heroic’ defence. He said: “I think today we played to our strengths and we were able to hide our weaknesses. So I’m very pleased with our performance.
“In the first half, we played very good football and controlled the game. Unfortunately, for the Hibs goal these things happen. I said to Reece McAlear at half time, he has played 100 games for me and those things happen, so nothing wrong there. But we kept pushing, in the end Hibs threw everything they had, so we needed a couple of heroic blocks and a couple of saves from out keeper, but in the end - very good.”
Hibs paid compliment from magnanimous Saints boss
Next up for the Saints is another home fixture against champions Celtic in midweek, as the manager claimed a win over ‘a very good Hibs side’ is more than ideal preparation. He said: “You have to play to your strengths, we've built up the team to play this way. It would be very stupid and naive to move away from our style because it is our strength to play this way. But at the same time we need to be able to hide our weaknesses. Today, in the second half, we didn't want to go that deep and defend our box but we needed to do it to get the result.
“They are a very good Hibs side. We needed something concrete to back up our performances, that's why this feels like a big result. We worked so hard last season to come up to the Premiership and play these matches. We want to compete, there's no better place than against the reigning champions [Celtic on Wednesday night]. It's a big task but a task we can go and see what we can do.”