Lee Johnson admits he’ll be lighting a candle for Martin Boyle as the Hibs ace faces a major World Cup sweat.
The Australian international bagged the opener from a VAR penalty award as his side sank St Mirren to move third in the Premiership. However, Boyle had to go off in the second period injured after an accidental clash before Mykola Kukharevich and Ewan Henderson added further goals to seal success.
Johnson admits he’s concerned for his talisman so close to Qatar 2022 as the boss explained: “I’m praying it’s not too bad. I was very worried it was his knee, but it’s not. It’s down the side, sort of the top of the shin. We’re hoping the pain was contact to the nerve, because it went numb. That was what ended in him coming off, but I’m lighting a candle for him hoping he’s alright. It’s going to be difficult psychologically for him, but I have to say his professionalism has been outstanding, he has never shirked anything in training or games. That’s why he deserves to go to the World Cup, for that consistency.”
Boyle’s setback was the only sour note of a splendid day for Hibs who snapped a three game losing steak. Hibs thought they’d gone ahead with just six on the clock after Joe Newell’s brilliant pass put Marijan Cabraja away to square for Kukharevich to net, but VAR judged the Croatian offside before he delivered. Johnson said: “I can’t quite get used to this VAR in terms of knowing if I should celebrate, not celebrate, celebrate twice or don’t celebrate at all!”
Ryan Porteous, Boyle and Henderson all then came close before the hosts went in front on the stroke of half time. VAR official Greg Aitken asked referee Don Robertson to check a handball against Richard Tait from a Chris Cadden cross and he subsequently awarded a spot-kick.
Boyle sent Carson the wrong way for the hosts to lead, but lasted just nine minutes of the restart. His replacement Elias Melkersen was almost instantly involved with Henderson to let Kukharevich muscle Alex Gogic aside and fire a second.
Hibs were in control and a third arrived when Melkersen’s shot was blocked into the path of the excellent Henderson who artfully finished high into the net from the edge of the box. Johnson was thrilled by the performance and said: “It was an important win for us. We had lost three on the spin, although I don’t think our performances had deserved that.
“The lads had never lost confidence although it was a very frustrating week. We just wanted this game to come and it was a must-win game for us because we knew we could leapfrog St Mirren and we wanted to stop the rot. We’ve maintained belief in what we were doing, there were some excellent performances on the pitch, five or six really outstanding ones. You do feel relief after such an intense week.”
Johnson’s team are now behind only Celtic and Rangers in the table and he added: “I feel we should have more points on the board although I know others will feel the same. We want to be successful here, we have a decent home record, we want to make it a fortress. We had a big home crowd last week and we let them down a bit, so this was the next opportunity to show them what we’re about.
“We played well, we could have been tight after missing chances but VAR was our friend, we got it at a good time and that made us a bit more relaxed and happy. I get up every morning and feel the potential at this club. I don’t feel this team is anywhere near finished with what we can do. We have players to come back in, we have had to put players in at different points. And you start to see them build a connection.”
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