Hibernian missed the chance to move up to fifth in the William Hill Premiership as they struggled to break down 10-man St Johnstone in a 1-1 draw.
The home team played over 50 minutes, 10 of which after Jason Holt’s red card in the first half.
Sime Valakari’s men, burdened by defensive shortcomings all season, showed a determined game in difficult circumstances. Dwight Gayle, introduced on the hour mark, canceled out Nicky Clark’s penalty to equalize 11 minutes from time.
Defeats to Motherwell and St Mirren have cleared the way for David Gray’s men to break into the top six. However, they were unable to find a winner and failed to extend their winning streak to five games in front of 3,000 traveling fans.
In-form striker Makenzie Kirk missed out through injury in one of four changes for St Johnstone, while Hibs captain Joe Newell, who was sent off against Kilmarnock with a groin problem, was replaced by Hyeok-Kyu Kwon.
The Saints have been playing their best football for weeks, but chances in the first half fell to a striker lacking in confidence.
Adama Sidibeh shot wide after Clark neatly missed Drey Wright’s diagonal ball.
The Gambian, without a goal since August, hit the target after 18 minutes but fired straight at Jordan Smith.
As Hibs enjoyed a spell of dominance, Junior Hoilett raced past Jack Sanders to deliver to Chris Cadden.
Sanders recovered and blocked the winger’s low shot on the line.
Five minutes before half-time, Holt was first booked for a foul on Chris Cadden.
VAR Grant Irvine advised Lloyd Wilson to have another look and the result was a red upgrade.
The home team responded excellently with a period of pressure that paid off with a lead deep into stoppage time.
Sanders was wrestled to the turf by Rocky Bushiri as he tried to connect with Fran Franczak’s corner.
Clark was typically cool and clinical, sending Smith the wrong way from the spot for his sixth goal of the season.
Josh Rae made a good save from Nicky Cadden in the 50th minute as the tone was set for Saints to be under pressure until the end.
Hibs had the ball in the net after Martin Boyle’s cross, only for a flag in the backfield on Hoilett to bring the celebrations to an abrupt halt.
Valakari sacrificed Sidibeh after 67 minutes to leave Benji Kimpioka as Saints’ only scorer.
Turning Wright into an extra center half initially worked as the visitors were limited to long-range strikes from Chris Cadden and Nectarios Triantis clearing Rae’s crossbar.
In the 79th minute, the veteran attacking instincts did their thing.
Sven Sprangler’s header went only as far as Triantis who headed the ball over the top of the Saints defense and Gayle stole in and slotted home from eight yards.
Rae made a brilliant stop from Triantis and Josh Campbell headed over the top of the bar as the Perth side claimed a point.
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