Match Preview: St Johnstone vs Falkirk
Falkirk travel to Perth to take on St Johnstone, looking to end their dismal run against the Saints. These two sides have not met in a competitive fixture since July 2018, where St Johnstone ran out 1-0 winners at McDiarmid Park, courtesy of a first-half goal from Scougall. The meeting before that came in 2016, also at McDiarmid Park. Two first-half penalties from Swanson and a second-half goal from MacLean gave the Perth outfit a 3-0 win. In addition, Falkirk have failed to win a competitive match in this fixture in their last seven attempts, with their last win coming in April 2004. In that season (2004/05), Falkirk won all four of their meetings with the Saints. St Johnstone come into this fixture off the back of a narrow 1-0 defeat against champions Celtic at McDiarmid Park. Despite the defeat, it was a tight contest, which they can take positives from, which has been a theme of their start to the league season. All of their six Premiership games have been decided by a singular goal, apart from their match at Dens Park at the start of the month, which finished 1-1. Falkirk picked up their first three points of the 26/27 season in midweek, which doesn’t tell the full story on how their season has gone. The Bairns beat the Jambos 2-1, courtesy of an early goal from Krauhaus and a second-half strike from Eames. St Johnstone have had a solid start to life back in the top flight, and Josh Fowler has been one of the standout performers. The striker netted nineteen times and provided two assists for Queen’s Park during the first half of the 2025/26 season before making the move to Perth, where he scored two in thirteen. However, so far in the Premiership, the 24-year-old has found the net four times and provided one assist in six Premiership matches. Falkirk haven’t had many standout performers so far this season, but two who have had solid starts are Ryan Strain and Scott Bain. Strain, who spent the last two seasons with Dundee United, has offered a real threat going forward. The Australian has created thirteen chances so far, two of which leading to assists, which puts him joint second in the Premiership, only behind Celtic midfielder Benjamin Nygren, who has created twenty-one thus far. Bain, who recently received a deserved Scotland National Team call-up, has prevented five goals so far this Premiership season, which puts him comfortably first, over one ahead of Kilmarnock keeper Max Stryjek. St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari has confirmed that Jamie Gullan, Bozo Mikulic and Zach Mitchell are set to return on Saturday. Valakari on his side’s defeat to Celtic: “You play against the champions and big credit to them. That’s why they are the champions – they find their way to win these matches, even when it’s an even game. “We created enough chances to get something. That’s the disappointment of the evening, that we could not score those. We were in the match the whole match. “It is a performance, not a result. When we keep performing, just taking care of our performances, the results, they will come.” Falkirk boss John McGlynn after his side’s home win against Hearts: “They put so much work in there and played some excellent football and scored some good goals. I thought we were good in and out of possession. “Absolutely delighted to get the monkey off the back, and I think that’ll kick us on now. It’s just getting that first win. “We have been gradually getting better; the transfer window has closed, and we can just concentrate on our football, and we saw the fruits of that.” “The teams above us not winning; it’s tightening up very quickly.”
Recounting David Gray’s defining moments at Hibs
Following David Gray’s departure from Hibs yesterday, it feels like Hibs have lost a massive part of themselves. Gray was Alan Stubbs’ first signing following Hibs’ relegation to the Championship and his 12-year stint at the club from player, to captain, to coach, to manager came to an end following a 1-0 defeat at home to Kilmarnock on Tuesday. Here are his six most influential moments at Hibs, from the pitch to pitch side. 1. Rangers 2-3 Hibernian (21st May 2016) The obvious one. Not only the most defining moment in David Gray’s time at Hibs, but the most influential moment in Hibernian’s history. The club hadn’t won the Scottish Cup in 114 years before Gray. Not only did he captain them to their cup win, he scored the winning goal in the 92nd minute to give Hibs fans a moment they’ll never forget. 2. Hibernian 3-3 Aberdeen (26th November 2024) At the beginning of Gray’s managerial stint, Hibs were languishing bottom with one win in fourteen games. It’s widely acknowledged that this could have been Gray’s last match in charge. Aberdeen were high flying at the time, but this was the first time Gray opted to play a back three, names like Jack Iredale, Jordan Smith and Nicky Cadden came into the side to breath new life into it. Cadden would score what everyone thought was a stoppage time equaliser with a fantastic free-kick, but it seemed like Ester Sokler put the last nail in Gray’s coffin with a 95th minute overhead-kick. Rocky Bushiri would score his first Hibs goal a minute later to save Gray’s job. At the time of Sokler’s goal, Aberdeen were 26 points clear of Hibs. David Gray would lead his side to a 17-match unbeaten run after this, coupled with an Aberdeen capitulation, Hibs would seal 3rd in Gray’s first season in charge, finishing above Aberdeen. 3. Hibernian 3-0 Queen of the South (15th April 2017) If it weren’t for Gray’s Scottish Cup final goal, Hibs might have languished in the Championship for a lot longer than they did. Winning the Scottish Cup brought many fans back to Easter Road. Gray scored the 3rd goal in the match that returned hits back to where they belong. 4. Hibernian 1-2 Celtic (19th December 2021) During his first of four interim spells in charge of Hibs, Gray was thrown in the deep end of a League Cup final against Ange Postecoglu’s Celtic. Paul McGinn cites Gray’s pre-match team talk as the best he’s ever seen as the Hibernian legend told his players everything the Scottish Cup winning goal done for him, as he encouraged his players to be legends themselves. The match may not have went Hibs’ way that day, but it was clear to all involved at the club that Gray would take charge in his own right one day. 5. Hibernian 2-1 Heart of Midlothian (2nd March 2025) In the middle of Hibs’ 17-match unbeaten run there came a week where they faced Celtic, Dundee United and Hearts. Hibs dispatched of Celtic before two stoppage time goals against Dundee United returned the favour for the trip to Tannadice earlier that season. A derby win against Hearts where Jack Iredale scored the goal-of-the-season made it clear Hibs were destined for 3rd. 6. Hibernian 2-3 KAA Gent (27th August 2026) This signalled the beginning of the end for many. For the second year running, Hibs had crashed out of Europe in the last minute of the play-off round. Poor in-game management made it obvious Gray couldn’t take Hibs further than he already had.
Owen Elding receives first International call-up
Hibernian forward Owen Elding has received his first senior call-up for the Republic of Ireland. Elding, who was born in England qualifies for the Republic as he moved to the country aged seven when his dad signed for Sligo Rovers. The 20-year-old has been a part of head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson’s plans for a while and was even included in June’s squad as a training player whilst he awaited receiving his Irish passport. Elding, who is recently returning from injury has scored three goals in nine games for Hibs this season. He will be joined by Jamie McGrath in the senior squad whilst Jacob Devaney has received a call-up for the Irish U21 side. Ireland will face Kosovo and Austria this international break, as well as two highly criticised fixtures against Israel, both of which have been moved. Israel’s ‘home’ match will take place in Hungary whilst Ireland will ‘host’ Israel in Serbia behind closed doors.