Lewis Stevenson admits new Hibs tricks are needed in changing defensive landscape amid extended contract hope

Lewis Stevenson remembered how to score again as a rare goal secured Hibernian a point and a shot at Europe.

Learning entirely new tricks like how to make a fully-committed tackle and avoid a red card in the current climate could, however, be beyond him. The 35-year-old felt for team-mate Jimmy Jeggo after the midfielder was sent off by Craig Napier when he slid in to win the ball before colliding with Saints’ Connor McLennan. Inexplicably, VAR Chris Graham backed Napier’s curious call to dismiss the Austrian.

That saw Hibs boss Lee Johnson launch a savage attack on the ref’s performance and the entire officiating set-up. He may have gone in even harder if the blunder had proved costly to his team’s top-six ambitions, but they were able to see out the draw with 10 men. His veteran left-back Stevenson admitted players are at a loss. He said: “If you’ve played football for 20 years, it’s hard to change the way you tackle now. When I started, there were tackles flying in all the time. You were told to go in hard.

“Now you can’t – you need to stay on your feet, but that’s a different technique. At the time, I honestly thought it was a free-kick to us. Jimmy touched the ball and the guy has kicked his foot. If he had his studs up, fair enough, but Jimmy never went in to hurt anyone. I think refs could err on the side of caution sometimes. Maybe play a safe decision and, if it does need to be looked at, then they can.”

The technology era has been a mess since St Johnstone’s win at Hibs in the first VAR game in Scotland in October. On Saturday, VAR should have helped Napier wipe the red card and Stevenson feels it is affecting the flow of games.

He said: “I know it’s a very hard job, everyone appeals, there’s a lot of noise and