St Mirren create more than usual with less of the ball
ST Mirren1 – 1Hibernian 
Hibernian had most of the possession, but St Mirren had the better chances, and Marko Ivezić's late goal left the points shared.
St Mirren had 42% of the ball on Wednesday evening, yet they finished with the better chances. Expected goals, or xG, scores each shot by how likely it was to go in, judging by where and how it was taken. St Mirren's shots added up to an xG of 1.8, well above the 1.35 they average at home, and they managed that from just 11 shots, 10 of them inside the box. Three of those efforts were on target.
Hibernian were the side with the ball, at 58% against an away average of 50.2% this season. They completed 387 of their 479 passes, about 81%, while St Mirren completed 250 of 344, around 73%. The possession did not turn into much, however. Hibernian had 9 shots, against a road average of 15.6, and only one of them was on target. Their xG of 1.42 sat below their away average of 1.58, so their chances were thinner than usual. They did win five corners to St Mirren's three, though corners rarely settle a match on their own.
Ball possession
The match changed in the closing stages, when Marko Ivezić scored in the 78th minute with Owen Elding credited with the assist. It was a late turn for a game in which St Mirren had the better chances and Hibernian had the bulk of the ball, and it is the moment most supporters on either side will remember. Ivezić's rating of 7.5 was the strongest of the afternoon's evidence that his goal mattered.
Two St Mirren players did the most with what they had. K. Phillips created four chances and won ten of his duels, and R. Carr, who came on in the 80th minute, won six challenges in the time he had. Neither figure changes the arithmetic of the match, but both show a side that kept working in the places where the ball was contested.
Neither side arrives in good shape. St Mirren have won once in their last six matches, and Hibernian have drawn once in theirs, with both sides losing five of the six. At home this season St Mirren have won four and drawn one of their ten matches, while Hibernian have taken seven defeats from ten away games, which is the record of a side struggling to turn possession into points.
Measured against the league, St Mirren's chances came in above the usual per-team figure of 1.59 xG, while Hibernian's sat below it. The match produced two goals, against a league average of 2.8 per match, so the scoring was lighter than usual on both counts. For a game that many expected to be open, it was more cautious than the chances suggested it might be.
In the table, St Mirren are sixth on 13 points, while Hibernian are twelfth with 7 from the same ten games.
M. Ivezić1 goal
J. Young1 chance created
O. Elding1 assist
K. Phillips4 chances created