St Johnstone boss McInnes happy to end goal-drought
Last updated on .From the section Football
St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes was delighted to end his side's goal drought with a 2-1 win at Hibernian.
Saints had failed to score a league goal since early march, but recovered from 1-0 down at Easter Road to take all three points.
"I'm delighted for the supporters," said McInnes. "We've been constantly reminded about the goalscoring thing.
"It's been a source of huge embarassment, but I thought the players might do it today."
It looked like the 800-minute goal drought would continue for Saints when Akpo Sodje opened the scoring for Hibs in the 23rd minute of the match in Edinburgh, but Liam Craig headed home from a corner after 73 minutes to level.
Craig turned provided when he set up Kevin Moon to fire in a stoppage-time winner and McInnes was pleased that his players didn't let the Hibs goal dampen their spirits.
"I think you can see physically the difference in them when we got our first goal," said McInnes.
"We were running with more purpose and asking more questions of Hibs. I thought we might have run out of time, but thankfully Kevin popped up and we got a winner.
"We got a few breaks we've possibly not had of late, but for the determination and desire to try and make things happen the players deserve the three points."
Above all, McInnes was pleased that the club's supporters finally had the much-sought goals and a win to celebrate on the trip back home to Perth.
"We're delighted the supporters can go home with a smile on their face," said McInnes.
"I thought we had some decent bits of play, but not enough. To lose the goal we did, we should be seeing it off and we were disappointed with it.
"We asked the players to stop accepting poor results and bad luck. We had to remind them they were all good players because some had forgotten.
"Sometimes, when you have to dig deep when you go behind and things are against you, more is needed and it was given in the second half.
"A lot of our players played to a level they're capable of and we can't underestimate the value of confidence which was evident."
