IT was the old-fashioned strikers’ double act that earned a dramatic victory for St Johnstone over Hibs on Friday night.
Nicky Clark netted the equaliser at Easter Road before Stevie May bagged inside the final ten-minutes to send the strong Saints away support wild.
The game was the first domestic match in Scotland to feature VAR.
And it proved useful after an incorrect penalty decision given in the 90thminute to ten-man Hibs was overturned due to an offside in the build-up play.
This meant Callum Davidson’s side travelled home to Perth with all three-points, which ended a run of three straight defeats.
May started the game on the bench before coming on in the second-half.
While admitting his frustration at not being included in the first XI, the experienced striker was just happy to make an impact during his time on the pitch.
And he insists his partnership with Clark will only improve.
He said: “There was a lot to improve on in the first half.
“I wasn’t in the dressing room at half-time but the gaffer told the boys it wasn’t good enough.
“We reacted well and we stayed in the game. If you keep going you will get chances and that’s what happened.
“It was great to do it in front of the Saints fans. It’s nice to score at that end.
“The red card helped and we managed to make the most of that straight away.
“If you let it drag on with ten men it becomes harder so to get the goal right away was huge and gave us a platform to kick on.
“The gaffer mentioned before half time that I had to stay warm and then someone told me to get ready at the break.
“Was I frustrated not to start? Yes. I wanted to start the game and anyone who has played well the week before will hope to play. But you have to react the right way and impact the game when you do come on and I did that.
“Are Nicky and I the way ahead? Hopefully but it isn’t my decision. I enjoy playing with him and it is good for strikers to score and get a win. We did that on Friday and hopefully that can continue.
“I believe we are developing an understanding together. We are very different but we are both experienced and understand the game well.
“I think it could be a partnership that could be fruitful for us going forward. It was great for both of us to score against Hibs.
“Nicky wants to be the central striker and I can float around and get on the ball or go in behind the defence. He’s better in the air than me but I scored a decent header at Easter Road to be fair.
“We needed that win and hopefully it can kick us on now. Now we need to try and build on that next weekend.”
Meanwhile, Hibs left-back Marijan Čabraja insists this latest defeat hurts more than the 6-1 thumping at the hands of Celtic.
Lee Johnson’s side had 15 shots to Saints’ seven, while they also dominated possession with nearly 60 per cent of the ball.
There’s little doubt that the sending off to Kyle Magennis on 70-mimnutes swung the game in the visitors’ favour.
However, the scoreline is all that matters at the end of the day. It’s a harsh lesson that Čabraja says Hibs will learn.
He said: “I think a lot because we controlled the game totally and were dangerous, aggressive, attacking mentality. It happened.
“The problem was two minutes after we conceded the goal from a corner. You want to win the game but you can't attack the same.
“It was really difficult and then the other header, second one. Those games are 1 in 100 that can happen and it happened tonight. It was not good for us but the positives for us is that we were aggressive in the first half, very attacking until the red card.”
