Hibernian missed the opportunity to move fifth in the William Hill Premiership as they struggled to break down 10-man St Johnstone in a 1-1 draw.

The home side played over 50 minutes with 10 men following Jason Holt’s first-half red card.

Simo Valakari’s men, beset by defensive shortcomings all season, found a resolute display in fraught circumstances.

Dwight Gayle, introduced on the hour, cancelled out Nicky Clark’s penalty with an equaliser 11 minutes from time.

Defeats for Motherwell and St Mirren left the way clear for David Gray’s men to break into the top six.

However, they could not find a winner and failed to extend their winning run to five games in front of 3000 travelling fans.

In-form striker Makenzie Kirk missed out with injury in one of four St Johnstone changes, while Hibs captain Joe Newell, taken off with a groin problem against Kilmarnock, was replaced by Hyeok-kyu Kwon.

Saints played their best football for weeks but first-half chances fell to a striker short on confidence.

Adama Sidibeh dragged a shot wide after Clark neatly dummied Drey Wright’s diagonal ball.

The Gambian, without a goal since August, hit the target after 18 minutes but fired straight at Jordan Smith.

As Hibs enjoyed a spell of dominance, Junior Hoilett breezed past Jack Sanders to deliver for Chris Cadden.

Sanders recovered to block the wing-back’s low drive on the line.

Five minutes before half-time, Holt was initially shown a yellow card for a foul on Chris Cadden.

VAR Grant Irvine advised Lloyd Wilson to take a second look and the upshot was an upgrade to red.

The home side responded admirably with a period of pressure that paid off with the lead deep into stoppage time.

Sanders was wrestled to the turf by Rocky Bushiri as he tried to connect with Fran Franczak’s corner.

Clark was typically cool and clinical, sending Smith the wrong way from the penalty spot for his sixth goal of the season.

Josh Rae saved well from Nicky Cadden in the 50th minute as the tone was set for Saints to be under pressure for the remainder.

Hibs had the ball in the net through Martin Boyle’s tap-in, only for an offside flag on Hoilett to abruptly halt celebrations.

Valakari sacrificed Sidibeh after 67 minutes and left Benji Kimpioka as the lone Saints striker.

Wright turning into an extra centre-half initially worked as the visitors were restricted to long-range efforts from Chris Cadden and Nectarios Triantis which cleared Rae’s crossbar.

In the 79th minute, veteran striker instincts did the trick.

Sven Sprangler headed out only as far as Triantis who nodded the ball over the top of the Saints defence and Gayle stole in to prod home from eight yards.

Rae produced a great stop from Triantis and a Josh Campbell header clipped the top of the crossbar as the Perth side clung on for a point.