David Gray backed red-hot Martin Boyle to break through the 100-goal mark for Hibernian after he notched his 15th of the season in a comfortable 3-0 William Hill Premiership home win over St Johnstone.
The Australia forward struck Hibs’ second after Junior Hoilett’s exquisite opener before substitute Kieron Bowie sealed victory with a stoppage-time penalty.
Boyle, who first joined Hibs on loan from Dundee just over a decade ago, has now matched his highest-scoring season in green and white, when he hit 15 under Jack Ross in 2020-21.
The 31-year-old, who has been linked with a move to Australia, is on 94 in total for the Edinburgh club, with seven games to play before his current deal expires at the end of this season.
“It’s fantastic, it’s fully deserved,” said manager Gray of Boyle’s strike rate. “With how he affects games at this level, he’s obviously a fantastic player. He’s such a threat, especially on the break.
“He’ll probably be a wee bit disappointed because a couple of times today when we did break, he didn’t quite get the break of the ball.
“He’s chasing down this 100 goals for the club, so he’s going to have to go some to get there (before the end of the season). But he’s got the games left to do it and he’s definitely hungry enough to want to try and do it.
“I think that’s maybe why he had a wee look at me when I took him off today when he was on that goal!
“He fully deserves all the praise because of the consistency and performances he’s shown ever since he’s been a Hibs player.”
The victory over bottom side Saints made it 15 Premiership matches in a row unbeaten and kept Hibs a point clear of Aberdeen in the battle for third.
“It was a complete performance,” said Gray. “Everybody fully deserved that clean sheet. Smudge (Jordan Smith) didn’t even have a save to make, so it shows how good we were without the ball.”
Saints remain adrift at the foot of the table and boss Simo Valakari was deflated by their limp display after a run in which they had won six and drawn two of their previous 10 matches.
“We didn’t play well enough to get anything out of the match,” he said.
“We played against very good opponents and they played well as well, but at the same time, we need to own this performance, learn from it quickly and move on.”
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