St Mirren head to Easter Road tomorrow afternoon to face Neil Lennon’s Hibernian side for the second time this season.
The teams met back on 20th August when two goals from Jason Cummings in a ten minute period midway through the first half was enough for the Edinburgh side to leave Paisley with maximum points.
After an outstanding start to the season the Hibees have stumbled a bit over the last few weeks as they have lost top spot in the league to Queen of the South, albeit they only sit a point behind in second place. It started with a game at home against Ayr United which looked to be well in hand as Hibs led from a goal early in the second half by that man Cummings again but the game swung after Marvin Bartley was red carded with little more than twenty minutes remaining. The Ayrshire side scored two late goals to claim the points and shock Hibs. A goalless draw with fellow title challengers Queen of the South was followed by a 1-1 draw with Dundee United last weekend. Again Hibs had the lead through James Keatings but United hit back to earn a share of the points.
For all that Hibs are always going to be a formidable threat with Jason Cummings in their line-up. The 21-year-old has already banged in eight goals this term, two of them against Saints back in August.
Ex-Buddies Darren McGregor and John McGinn now ply their trade at Easter Road but McGinn won’t be available for selection tomorrow as he is with the Scotland side as they prepare for their match tomorrow evening against Lithuania.
Neil Lennon has a lot of quality in his side and will have the likes of Club Captain David Gray, Paul Hanlon, Lewis Stevenson, Fraser Fyvie, Andrew Shinnie, Dylan McGeouch, Alex Harris, Marvin Bartley and James Keatings at his disposal.
This week has been a very positive one for St Mirren. After Tom Walsh’s late equaliser against Falkirk last Saturday to grab a precious league point, Jack Ross was named as the club’s new manager on Tuesday and earlier today James Fowler was confirmed as his assistant. Tomorrow will see Allan McManus oversee the first team for the final time as he bows down from his care-taking duties as Jack Ross comes in on Monday.
Tomorrow’s IRN-BRU Cup, 4th Round tie will see the sides face each other for the time in the Challenge Cup tournament. In fact they haven’t been drawn together in cup football since 26th February 2005 when they met in a Scottish Cup tie at Easter Road which the Hibees won 2-0 thanks to goals from Scott Brown and Garry O’Connor.
More often than not the form book can go out the window with cup football so we are sure to see an exciting tie at Easter Road tomorrow as both sides look to start pushing forward with their season.
