Saints were in front almost immediately with a superb piece of individual brilliance and genius from Ian Maxwell. Ahem. The fullback charged forward before swinging a cross into the box, which was nowhere near any Saints players. Fortunately, it was near the Hibs goal - and with Yves Ma-Kalambay in it there's always the chance of something comical happening. Sure enough, the giant keeper stood and watched as the ball started coming down... over his head... and into the net! Cue much laughing in between the cheering from the Saints support, although it wasn't to be the last comedy of the afternoon, or even the first half.
Every time Maxwell went forward after that there were cries of "Shoot", though sadly he was unable to produce anything like it again. Will Haining - back from injury - went close to getting a goal when he just failed to get his head to Garry Brady's free kick. Brady also fired a long range shot just over, while Hibs - on the few occasions they composed themselves to have a go at the other end - produced little of interest. A couple of shots wide and nothing more.
Saints got their second just before half time, with comedy double act Ma-Kalambay (or Ma-Kalamity) and Rob Jones combining well. Jones didn't put enough on his backpass, which allowed Stewart Kean to nip in. Ma-Kalamity failed to get the ball back, so Kean got to the byline before cutting the ball back for Gary Mason (goodness knows what he was doing so far up the pitch), who smashed the ball into the empty net to open his Saints account. Who needs Dargo and Dorman?
It was as good as game over, with Hibs threatening a few times in the second half but failing to produce much of note, while Saints had a few chances at the other end. Sub Franco Miranda's corner bounced off Maxwell and over, while Maxwell, Mason and van Zanten also had a couple of shots that failed to go in.
With a few minutes to go, Hibs pulled one back when Mickael Antoine-Curier got in behind the defence to get into Ross Chisholm's cross before rounding Chris Smith and prodding the ball into the empty net. It set up a frantic end, with Dargo coming on for Billy Mehmet, but, if anything, it looked more likely that Saints would score another instead of Hibs, Dargo going close to getting his first Saints goal.
Overall, a good performance from Saints and one that was much needed, especially at home. If we can keep this up we might even be able to enjoy ourselves and relax a bit - wouldn't that be nice?