St Mirren 0-0 Hibernian- Report

Last updated : 23 November 2013 By DSG




Butcher starts with a point

Terry Butcher enjoyed a positive start to his Hibernian reign by claiming a point from his first match in charge as they drew 0-0 against St Mirren.


The new Easter Road boss may not have had a win to celebrate at the end of the goalless Scottish Premiership encounter at St Mirren Park.


But he would have taken some satisfaction from ending a run of four straight defeats endured by the Edinburgh side before he took over the hotseat in Leith.


Butcher took his place in the dug-out for the clash in Paisley after lodging an appeal on Friday against a two-match touchline ban.


The new Hibs manager rang the changes from the last match, when caretaker boss Jimmy Nicholl was in charge of team affairs against Butcher's former club Inverness.


Liam Craig was handed the skipper's armband in the absence of the injured James McPake.


Craig returned from suspension to start, along with Danny Handling and Paul Cairney, who made his first appearance of the season after injury.


Saints headed into the match without banned skipper Jim Goodwin, as they aimed for their third win in a row.


The home side carved out a decent chance early on when Steven Thompson raced onto a Paul McGowan through ball only to screw wide under close attention from Ryan McGivern.


Hibs were forced to make a change after just five minutes when Paul Heffernan limped off clutching his thigh and was replaced by James Collins.


Saints still looked more likely to find the back of the net and McGowan tested Ben Williams with a low drive that the goalkeeper was able to claim comfortably.


After a few crunching tackles from the visitors, Jordan Forster was the first player to go into referee Steven McLean's book on 15 minutes for a late challenge on John McGinn.


A good delivery from McGivern provided the Edinburgh side with their first real chance of the game but Collins nodded straight at goalkeeper Marian Kello.


Collins then claimed for a penalty when he went to ground in the box under pressure from Darren McGregor but there was no spot-kick award from the referee, despite being a reasonable claim.


At the other end, only some last-gasp defending prevented St Mirren from opening the scoring.


Kenny McLean's corner picked out an unmarked McGregor eight yards from goal and his header looked like heading for the back of the net but he was denied the opener when Alan Maybury nodded off the line.


Saints dominated early in the second half and McGregor and Thompson both tried their luck with efforts that failed to break down a stubborn Hibs defence.


The ball then broke for Jason Naismith but he could not keep his ferocious strike down and blazed just over the crossbar as the Buddies kept up the pressure.


A positive spell from Hibs then followed - with substitute Tom Taiwo at the centre of most of the action - but they struggled to create any real clear-cut chances before Craig's close-range header failed to trouble Kello.


Craig then turned provider with a teasing corner into the goal-mouth but Paul Hanlon glanced his header over as both teams shared the points.


Source: DSG

Source: DSG