Hibs 0 St Johnstone 0: Saints pick up point in front of bumper Easter Road crowd

St Johnstone were on the hunt for maximum capital gains.

But the Perth side had to settle for a point following a stalemate in front of a bumper Easter Road crowd.

In a fantastic promotional move, Hibs had offered tickets to both home and away fans for just £5.

The Saints support answered the call and numbered almost 2000 across two tiers of the South Stand.

There was, even early in the afternoon, an evident increase in blue and white scarves making the journey down Leith Walk towards the stadium. That was nice to see.

They arrived and were met with a Perth team-sheet signalling four changes from Wednesday night’s 1-0 defeat against Rangers.

Goalkeeper Zander Clark made a welcome return - Elliott Parish dropped to the bench - while Dan Cleary, Cammy MacPherson and Glenn Middleton were also back in from the start.

That meant a spot on the bench for James Brown, Jacob Butterfield and Nadir Ciftci.

Brown was soon called into action, however, when, on 19 minutes, Tom Sang went down injured and needed replacing.

There had been little for both sets of supporters to get excited about in terms of goalmouth action throughout the half. For Saints, MacPherson’s dangerous free-kick delivery from wide left did think of sneaking in at the back post.

And Melker Hallberg, back at his former club, sent a speculative effort from distance wide of the mark.

Hibs twice attempted to break the deadlock as the whistle for the break approached.

First, tricky Sylvester Jasper sent a great cross in for Christian Doidge but the Welsh forward failed to connect with his header from a promising position.

Next up was Chris Cadden who, on 42 minutes, fancied his chances from range. His dipping shot bounced off Clark before being swiped away from danger