Lewis Stevenson admits he was pleasantly surprised to see his shot nestle in the corner, but was unhappy with the decision to send Hibernian team-mate Jimmy Jeggo off in the 1-1 draw with St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
Lee Johnson's men had gone behind to a goal from Saints striker Stevie May, who somehow beat David Marshall with an overhead kick that the former Scotland number one let slip through his fingertips at the near post.
However just seven minutes later, the away team levelled, when Elie Youan picked out veteran Stevenson, who fired a brilliant left footed strike into the far corner. Hibs' task of securing a result in Perth were made a lot harder when Australian midfielder Jeggo was controversially shown a red card for a tackle on Connor McLennan, and although Marshall was called into action with some top saves, the Leith side held onto to secure their place in the top six.
READ MORE: St Johnstone 1-1 Hibs as top six secured, VAR at forefront - 3 things we learned
Sign up to Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox
The Easter Road club go into the post-split fixtures in fifth place, having moved up a position following St Mirren's home defeat to Kilmarnock.
With four points from their last two matches, Hibs have also breathed new life into their quest for European football, and are now just four points of city rivals Hearts who they edged out 1-0 last week. After the game, full back Stevenson admitted he had not expected to find the net with his hopeful effort.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland he said: "I still don’t know if Elie meant the pass or if it’s a bad cross. I took a bad touch, it bobbled up and I probably closed my eyes and hit it. The manager has encouraged me to get forward and make more box entries.
Stevenson added that the windy conditions made for a tough game of football, and also couldn't understand why Jeggo was shown his marching orders.
He added: "Top six was the main priority today. We didn’t start that well, horrible conditions, windy, bobbly and dry pitch, so we knew it would be a battle and we had to do that first.
"We got the goal at a decent time and came into the game. The sending off has killed us – I haven’t seen it back but at the time I thought it was a free-kick to us, never mind a sending off."
READ NEXT:
- Hibs 1 Hearts 0 as Kevin Nisbet steps up, top six destiny in own hands - 3 things we learned
- Hibs 1 Hearts 0 as Jambos' poor run continues, third place slipping away - 3 things we learned
- Lee Johnson in Celtic and Rangers 'Brucie bonus' assessment as he reveals Robbie Neilson chat plan
