Yahoo Finance St Johnstone make Hibernian pay for squandered chances to reach Scottish League Cup final
St Johnstone 3 Hibernian 0
St Johnstone strode into the final of the Betfred Scottish League Cup final with a performance which embarrassed Hibernian’s defenders at Hampden Park with goals from Jason Kerr, Shaun Rooney and Craig Conway. Jack Ross and his players could not complain about inequity of opportunity, because they could have been three goals ahead before the Perth side edged in front but were twice repelled by the woodwork and otherwise undone by failure to press their early superiority.
Like planetary conjunctions, the appearance of four non-Old Firm sides in the semi-finals of a Scottish knockout tournament is a notable event and one of rare potential for the participants. So much so, in fact, that Celtic – who retained the Scottish Cup against Hearts in the deferred 2020 final at Hampden last month - had monopolised the domestic honours for four years.
Celtic’s ejection from this competition by Ross County, along with St Mirren’s dismissal of Aberdeen and Rangers, left Hibs as the latest favourites to take the silverware at the scene of their Scottish Cup victory over Rangers in 2016. Two years earlier, St Johnstone won that trophy for the first time in their history, an accomplishment sufficiently recent to sharpen their appetites for a repeat in the current tournament, especially since they were beaten by Celtic at this stage last season.
St Johnstone's form in the run-up to this contest was not encouraging, with only three wins from 14 matches, but Hibs were scarcely better off, with just two successes in seven outings, although last week’s 2-0 win over Kilmarnock boosted their morale. On this occasion, Jack Ross’s players were the better side over the first half hour, although it took them time to gain momentum against opponents who were willing to clatter into challenges, one of which – by Shaun Rooney on Ryan Porteous looked worthy of a yellow card – and who were playing a direct game from back to front.
Not that it would have done Saints much good had Hibs converted their abundant chances, the first of which was forged by Paul Hanlon with an overhead delivery which looked set to curl in at Zander Clark’s left-post but was clawed wide by the goalkeeper. Clark was also decisive midway through the half when, although diving the wrong way, stopped an attempt by Murphy with his foot.
The rebound fell straight back to Murphy who was confounded again as the ball smacked off the crossbar. The same frustration was visited upon Jackson Irvine when the Australian’s head flick from a Josh Doig cross struck the junction of post and bar. St Johnstone then demonstrated the art when their first corner kick was delivered by David Wotherspoon for Kerr to outjump Ryan Porteous to head powerfully into the net.
Saints repeated the lesson within five minutes of the second half when Rooney bulleted a header from a Conway free kick beyond Ofir Marciano, who was again confounded in the 63nd minute by Conway’s back post tap-in as Hanlon dozed.
Ross looked dazed by this turn of events and, when he gathered his senses, the Hibs manager sent on Christian Doidge, Kyle Magennis and – in his first appearance since an injury in August – Scott Allan in midfield but, although the Easter Road side pressed with increased vigour, they were comfortably handled by St Johnstone, who will contest the trophy with the winners of today’s semi-final between St Mirren and Livingston.
