Christian Doidge insists Hibernian were not far away from success under Paul Heckingbottom but believes the changes made by Eddie May were key to a first Ladbrokes Premiership victory in three months.
May, the club’s head of player development, was placed in temporary charge following Heckingbottom’s sacking last Monday.
And he got an instant response as Doidge scored a hat-trick, his first league goals for the club, and
Scott Allan also netted in a 4-1 win at St Johnstone.
Stevie May grabbed a late consolation for Saints in the 90th minute but the day belonged to Hibs as they arrested a run of five consecutive league draws with a badly-needed win.
Doidge said: “Eddie was really supportive all week and it’s been a fun week. I think that showed in our performance, the boys went out there and really gave it a good go.
“I think the shape helped us, with me and Flo [Kamberi] playing up front together. I thought he was fantastic and unfortunately he didn’t get his goal.
“But he set me up twice, which was nice. Also, getting the best out of Scott Allan, playing in the 10. He’s probably one of the best in the league in that position.
“Drawing games of football is hard to take, especially when we’ve been in winning positions.
“The pressure got to us in the last couple of games, where we’ve conceded a couple. But I really think we weren’t far away, at all, from winning well.”
Kamberi capitalised on a slip by St Johnstone skipper Jason Kerr in just the second minute to set up Doidge for the opener.
The Welshman’s initial shot was too close to Zander Clark but the rebound fell kindly and he made no mistake second time round.
He then doubled Hibs’ lead in the 17th minute as he was left with a simple tap-in after being found just three yards out by Kamberi’s low cross.
St Johnstone rallied but were put to the sword after the break.
Allan seized on a loose pass just two minutes in to run from the halfway line before flashing a left-foot shot beyond Clark.
And Doidge completed his hat-trick when he powered in a header from a fantastic Jason Naismith cross.
May touched in a low Anthony Ralston centre in the final minute to pull one back for St Johnstone but it was a day to forget for them after back-to-back victories over Hamilton and Hearts.
Boss Tommy Wright, linked with the Northern Ireland manager’s job, said: “We weren’t getting carried away. We know with this squad it’s going to be an up and down season and we’ve got to be patient with them.
“They’re going to have to learn quickly and they’ll gain from these bad experiences.
“They’re going to have to get that level of consistency that is needed to pick up points and to get you away from the bottom of the table.”
