Hibs earn draw at St Mirren despite Manneh red card on debut

It was far from a classic in Paisley as St Mirren and Hibernian played out a goalless draw in the Scottish Premiership with chances at a premium.

The second half was a huge improvement on a dreadful opening 45 minutes and Hibs were indebted to goalkeeper Jordan Smith for extending their unbeaten record to 12 games but Alasana Manneh was sent off just 13 minutes into his debut from the bench.

David Gray’s men remain in fifth place, three points behind Dundee United and three ahead of their opponents who moved into the top six with the point.

It was a subdued start to proceedings with neither side creating a notable chance, although St Mirren were in the ascendancy in the opening 10 minutes with over 70 per cent possession.

Hibernian defended well early on as the hosts peppered the box with crosses, with Warren O’Hora making one crucial block to deny Mikael Mandron.

The visitors arrived in Paisley in excellent form but they offered little attacking threat during the opening half-hour as they repeatedly went long. But O’Hora headed wide from eight yards out when unmarked after a pinpoint corner delivery from Nicky Cadden.

O’Hora’s effort was the only chance of note during an arduous first half, with the game not helped by the pitch cutting up significantly. There was plenty of endeavour from both sides but a lack of quality and it was a tough watch.

The start of the second half was in stark contrast, with a string of chances in the opening 10 minutes, and Hibs had Smith to thank for keeping it goalless with the 30-year-old in inspired form.

Smith made two comfortable stops from Killian Phillips and Mandron before producing a brilliant double save on 53 minutes, denying Toyosi Olusanya from close range before springing to his feet brilliantly to tip Mark O’Hara’s goalbound effort around the post.

The much-maligned Rocky Bushiri was enjoying an outstanding game at the heart of Hibs’ defence and he enjoyed a running battle with Olusanya.

There was a moment of huge controversy on 73 minutes when referee Ross Hardie awarded Hibs a penalty for handball against Phillips. St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson and his players were incensed, and rightly so as O’Hara headed the ball off Phillips’ head and Hardie overturned his decision after a brief VAR check.

Hardie was at the centre of the action as he dished out several yellow cards for scrappy fouls and it ended with Manneh enduring a debut to forget.

The former Barcelona youngster picked up a soft booking just after entering the pitch on 71 minutes and Hardie dished out another extremely questionable yellow after an aerial challenge with Phillips as Manneh received his marching orders just 13 minutes into his debut.

St Mirren were unable to capitalise on their man advantage as the game petered out and in truth it looked destined to be goalless from the first whistle.

What the managers said…

Hibs head coach David Gray: “The clean sheet is a big positive because we pride ourselves on that.

“That’s the biggest thing because if you’re keeping clean sheets then you can’t lose games of football, so that’s a good habit to get into.

“We were reliant on the goalkeeper – he makes a big save in the second half. And then I think if you look at Rocky (Bushiri) getting man of the match, his defensive display was excellent.

“I actually thought we defended the box reasonably well and we needed to be defensively good today because we were by no means good enough to really go and win the game.

“I thought it was a really poor game with no real quality within it. We found a way to not lose the game and especially going down to 10 men as well, when the character would be getting questioned and tested, it would be easy to fold.”

St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson on a VAR review that saw a penalty awarded to his side overturned: “It was never going to be a penalty.

“Mind you, with some of the decisions going against us, there might’ve been a little concern.

“Credit to the ref, that’s what VAR is there for. When people make glaring errors, correct them. It would’ve been a travesty to lose the game to that.

“I felt we were a wee bit fortunate when one of the boys bundled someone over. In the end a point moves us into the top six.

“If we can keep clean sheets, we’ll create chances. We work very very hard, press the life out of teams and don’t sit back.”

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