Josh Fowler's Double Lifts St Johnstone Past Hibernian and Piles Pressure on David Gray
Josh Fowler scored twice in the first half to give St Johntone a 2-1 win over Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership — a result that lifted the Perth club above their opponents in the table and handed Hibs head coach David Gray another bruising afternoon.
Fowler's first-half double settled this one early. The 22-year-old, signed from Dunfermline in the summer window, took his two chances with the kind of composure that suggested he had played in this fixture a dozen times rather than making his home debut. By the time Hibs found a response, the damage was done.
For St Johnstone, it is back-to-back Premiership wins — their second victory of the season — and the satisfying sight of climbing above Hibernian in the standings. According to Sky Sports, the three points were enough to leapfrog their visitors in the table. Not a bad return for a side still finding its feet under new management.
For Hibernian, this is a club searching for answers. Their own match report described it as "another frustrating afternoon" — and the frustration is mounting. Hibs opened their season with a thrilling 4-3 home win over Kilmarnock, but a 1-0 defeat at St Mirren followed, and now this. Two losses from three is not the start Gray would have wanted. The Edinburgh club expected better.
What gives this result its edge is the scrutiny it brings. Hibernian are not a club that tolerates slow starts, and the fans — who packed the away end at McDiarmid Park — let their players know it at full-time. Gray, promoted from his role as first-team coach this past summer, is already feeling the weight of the dugout. Three games in, the questions are sharpening.
Fowler, though, is the story St Johnstone supporters will tell each other on the drive home. Two goals, three points, and the sense that they might have found a player. For a club that has spent recent seasons scrapping at the wrong end of the table, a young striker with an eye for goal is exactly the kind of thing that changes the mood.
The Scottish Premiership — Scotland's top flight, featuring 12 clubs playing each other home and away before a post-split phase splits the league into top and bottom six — is only a few weeks old. St Johnstone sit above Hibernian. Few would have predicted that when the fixtures came out.
Hibernian will need to pick themselves up quickly. The fixtures do not get easier, and the patience of the support is wearing thin. For St Johnstone and their new striker, the season is starting to feel like something worth watching.
