Ten-man St Johnstone looked to be holding out for a battling point only to be cruelly denied by a 90th minute Hibs winner.
Not for the first time recently, there was a highly debatable ordering off that played a big part in the story of a match against the Easter Road side, with Murray Davidson the man given a straight red this time.
Key moments
There were virtually none for Saints in the first half, making a Jamie Murphy pass behind Theo Bair rather than in front of him when there was a promising attacking opportunity early in the second period all the more frustrating.
Davidson’s red card on 58 minutes was obviously THE key moment, however.
Yes, he was daft to go to ground in a challenge with Ryan Porteous he was a long-odds second favourite to win but studs weren’t showing and there was no threat of serious injury.
Porteous turns a yellow card foul by Murray Davidson into a red card by doing 12 rolls and screaming to the heavens.
Ref and lino buy it, St J down to 10 men.— eudo (@DonBeanleone) July 30, 2022
Still, it was the old ‘he gave the ref a decision to make’ and that’s two games already this season Saints have suffered as a result of that.
The winner?
Losing a game to a goal from a corner will hurt and the fact there was a deflection won’t ease the pain.
Saints’ star man: Alex Mitchell
For a 20-year-old to make his Premiership debut a few days after signing and to look totally at home at this level is impressive stuff.
Mitchell was in the middle of the back three, Liam Gordon’s usual slot, and he brought the skipper’s leadership to the role.
A fearless diving header to deny Christian Doidge a certain goal was the highlight but this was a hugely encouraging start for the Millwall youngster as a whole.
Player ratingsÂ
Matthews 7, Wright 7, Mitchell 8, McGowan 7, Considine 7, Montgomery 6, Davidson 5, Hallberg 6 (Brown 4), Carey 6, Murphy 5(MacPherson 5), Bair 5 (May 5).
Manager under the microscope
Saints had a goalkeeper making his debut and a new-look back-three in front of him, all of them summer signings as well.
That unit looked pretty solid and was the biggest positive.
The shape of the team was along familiar lines.
Murray Davidson did his best to cover the ground before his sending off but Saints found it hard to match Hibs’ energy in midfield.
It was tough for Callum Davidson to make an impact on the game in an offensive manner with his substitutions, as they were all post-red.
Man in the middle
Euan Anderson was getting through this game without having to make any big calls.
He booked Hibs’ assistant manager Jamie McAllister in the first half and no wonder – he and Lee Johnson spent more time moaning at the officials than they did offering advice to their team – but it was minor infringements on the pitch.
That changed just before the hour when Anderson sent off Davidson for a late sliding tackle on Porteous that went wrong.
He took his time (and the decision to show red rather than yellow appeared to be on his assistant’s advice).
That Marijan Cabraja only saw yellow for a similar (actually, make that worse) tackle on Ryan McGowan doesn’t help the Anderson cause.
Nor does the fact even Johnson didn’t think the Davidson call was right.
When do we get VAR again?
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