Craig Levein told St Johnstone goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov his superb performance at Hibs “more than made up” for last week’s costly error against Dundee.
Mitov pulled off a pair of stunning second half saves from Easter Road strikers Adam Le Fondre and Myziane Maolida to help Saints record a fantastic win in Edinburgh.
The Bulgarian internationalist was backed by his manager in midweek to bounce back from the mistake that cost the Perth side a goal in defeat to Dundee last weekend.
And Levein’s position was vindicated by a superb turn from Mitov as Saints stretched four points clear of Ross County in the race to avoid the play-offs.
“I said that to him after the game, I told him he more than made up for last week,” said the Perth gaffer.
“And we needed him at crucial moments in the match because Hibs, as you know, are a very attack-minded team.”
The players directly in front of Mitov did their bit too as Saints repelled almost everything Hibs threw at them as part of a disciplined performance.
“We missed Liam Gordon with a little niggle in his groin,” explained Levein.
“But I thought Andy (Considine), Gowser (Ryan McGowan) and Luke (Robinson) were fabulous.
“Hibs are a hard team to stop, we managed to do that and that was the foundation for the performance.”
He added: “We had a huge feeling of frustration after last week’s performance that we didn’t manage to get at least a point, maybe all three points, but we more than made up for that today with a similar performance.
“We have been a little bit up and down but that is us put two really good performances together in a row; we are creating chances and we are solid defensively which is not a bad combination.
“We just need to look ahead to the next match and see if we can pick up some points there as well.”
Levein also had words of praise for goalscorers Adama Sidibeh and Tony Gallacher, whose late winner secured a potentially priceless three points against the run of play.
“With Adama, it was his constant threat of running in behind,” he said.
“He scores every day in training with a degree of confidence and he’s generally quite ferocious with his shooting. I wasn’t surprised (by his finish against Hibs).
“But for him it was really important. That’s him got two in a row now and the work he does off the ball is incredible.
“So I’m thrilled for him and for Tony, he has had a couple of opportunities recently which he hasn’t managed to take, so good on him.”
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