ST MIRREN boss Ian Murray revealed it would have been “criminal” if Jack Baird’s red card against Falkirk last weekend hadn’t been overturned. The central defender was dismissed after been adjudged to have denied a goalscoring opportunity by handling the ball, a decision that was downgraded to a yellow card at yesterday’s appeal hearing at Hampden. Baird will now be available for tomorrow’s crunch home league match against Hibs.

The news was not so good for Craig Reid who was sent off late in the same match on his Saints debut. The panel dismissed his appeal and he will now sit out tomorrow’s game. With fellow right-backs Keith Watson and Jason Naismith both ruled out through injury, Saints will likely turn to rookie full-back Barry Cuddihy to fill in as they look to halt the Hibs juggernaut.

Murray, though, was happy that the appeals panel had seen sense and overturned Baird’s red card. He told Times Sport: “I had hoped both sending offs would be rescinded but Jack’s red card in particular was criminal. If that hadn’t been rescinded we would have been as well putting the whole appeals system away. I thought we had a chance with Craig’s as well. There was minimal contact, a tangle of legs maybe, but there was no intention.”

Murray was at both Hibs matches this week, taking in their Premiership win over Rangers last Sunday and then their convincing League Cup victory over Dundee United on Wednesday night. He admits they are a team in red-hot form but hoped Saints could take advantage of the fact that this will be their third game in just six days, as well as from the fact they have a new assistant manager in Alex Miller.

He added: “Hibs are a good side, no doubt. But we’ve played them already this season and did very well. We also felt that they watched how we did against Rangers two weeks ago and decided to do something similar, going 4-4-2 straight. Hibs never do that. So we had obviously given them some food for thought.

“Beating Rangers and then Dundee United are two fantastic results for Hibs this week. So they’ll come to us full of confidence although it is very hard to win three games in six days. So we have to take advantage of their extra game this week and use the spring in our step we’ve got from Alex coming in. The players will always do well for someone of his stature. It’s an opportunity for them."