Lee Johnson praises Elie Youan’s ‘wonderful finish’ which saw off St Mirren

Hibernian manager Lee Johnson praised Elie Youan’s composure for sealing a 1-0 win at St Mirren.

The Easter Road side were without Kevin Nisbet due to injury and then lost Harry McKirdy early on to another knock.

But Youan stepped up when called on to finish well past Trevor Carson for the only goal of a competitive cinch Premiership contest.

Johnson said: “He’s in excellent form. It’s difficult when a foreign player comes in.

“You’re never quite sure how they are going to settle, the tempo of the league, the culture, the country, but it seems like he loves it, he enjoys it and he’s now showing why he played through all the youth levels in France.

“He’s a really good signing for us. It’s an excellent finish. At first I thought he’d been pulled down, but he’s done well to stay on his feet and it’s a wonderful finish at a very important time of the match.”

The victory saw Hibs extend their unbeaten league run to five matches.

Johnson added: “It’s a big result. It’s the third game in a week and we thought we should have had three clean sheets, if you look at the VAR goal (scored by Ross County in midweek).

“We are starting to show signs that we are a solid outfit after a bad run with a lot of goals conceded. I thought Jimmy Jeggo and CJ (Egan-)Riley were fantastic.

“You can see why we brought them to the club. We had a nice balance.

“It was always going to be a tough game.

“St Mirren are excellent at home and you can see why. Two honest teams going at it and I thought we had a little bit more quality on the day in a couple of moments.”

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson was frustrated but did not want to be too critical of his players after they suffered a first home defeat since July.

He said: “The home run was always going to end some time. You can’t do that all season.

“There wasn’t a lot in the game and Lee Johnson will be delighted to get away with three points.

“I’d imagine he’d have been happy to have taken a point – probably like myself.

“I don’t think Hibs caused us any problems. And we didn’t cause them any either, truth be told.

“It was one of those days where the conditions dictated the level and quality of play.

“It was almost impossible for the players to pass the ball in the swirling wind.

“We would have been happy to take a point in the circumstances but didn’t.”