Another good win for Hibernian and another strong hint that Pat Fenlon might just be cobbling together a reasonable side at Easter Road.

But as much as the manager will cherish this result – Hibs' third home league victory in 18 months – he will find ample cause for concern in its lop-sided pattern. They might have been cruising by the end, but they took almost 45 minutes to find first gear.

Had they not emerged from that ugly first half with a barely merited 1-0 lead they might have been equally rudderless after the break. But the comfort of the advantage sent confidence soaring and a gulf of class opened up. Central defender James McPake ran things brilliantly at one end of the pitch, while Leigh Griffiths scuttled dangerously at the other.

Manager Fenlon was, understandably, a happy man. "We told the players at half-time that we had to get higher up and squeeze them," he said. "I thought we did that well in the second half. Last season we would have been going in one or two down at half-time. Sometimes you get a couple of results and take your foot off the gas, but the second half was the level we want here."

St Johnstone must have felt pretty satisfied as the end of that first half approached, for they had enjoyed many more chances than their opponents.

"We absolutely bossed it," said manager Steve Lomas, even if most of those opportunities were gifted by Hibs' mistakes. Over the past couple of weeks the home side had been starting to look pretty assured in looking after the ball, but they slipped back into their neglectful habits in that error-strewn opening period.

Hibs' failure to control midfield was neither for want of trying nor through lack of numbers; their crowding of the centre of the pitch surely detrimental to their duties both ends.

Griffiths, outstanding against St Mirren last weekend, grew so frustrated by the lack of service that he took to scampering back towards his own half in the hope of getting a touch.

Yet just when it seemed the visitors would be resting on the laurels of a goalless first half, up popped Paul Hanlon to give them a sense of grievance. Griffiths flighted over the ball from a corner on the right and Hanlon rose to get his head to it. Momentarily it seemed Callum Davidson had pulled off an acrobatic clearance, but referee Kevin Clancy decreed the ball had crossed the line.

It may have been an act of larceny, but it clearly energised Hibs, who began the second half with a swagger. Gary Deegan, more purposeful in the centre of midfield, drove them on to create more chances in the first five minutes than they had in the whole of the previous 45, and his determination proved vital in the creation of their second goal.

It came in the 51st minute after St Johnstone failed to clear the ball out of defence. Deegan robbed former Hibs player Patrick Cregg near the edge of the box and struck a clever pass to Griffiths, who rolled the ball across the six-yard line to Eoin Doyle. His fierce shot was well stopped by Alan Mannus but came straight back for Doyle to duly score.

Gregory Tade had a gold-plated chance to bite into Hibs' lead in the 62nd minute when the ball fell to him, unmarked in the box, after McPake slipped, but his effort lacked the deftness required to find a way past Ben Williams, and the goalkeeper beat it away to safety.

St Johnstone never threw in the towel, but neither did they come up with anything resembling a clear goal threat from that point on. The Hibs fans gave their team a noisy ovation; goodness knows what sort of racket they will make when they start playing for 90 minutes rather than just 45.