A two goal win against Queen of the South would have seen Hibs leapfrog the Doonhamers into third place in the Championship this afternoon, but despite dominating throughout they were unable to breach the visitors defence and the hard fought encounter ended all square.
Head Coach Alan Stubbs was forced into making a number of changes with Mark Oxley, Dylan McGeough and Scott Robertson all missing through injury and Dominique Malonga away on international duty.
Matt Kennedy, watched by Everton manager Roberto Martinez and Alex Harris both started with Jake Sinclair returning to the bench.
Hibs started brightly and Matthew Kennedy’s cross picked found Jason Cummings but his header went over the bar.
Cummings hen produced a fierce drive from 30 yards which Queen of the South goalkeeper Zander Clark managed to parry away.
Whilst Hibs dominated possession, Queen of the South had the chance to score against the run of play when Kevin Holt set up Derek Lyle who fired wide of the post.
Clark then did well to save a powerful strike from Cummings at the near post before spilling a shot from Scott Allan which was cleared before Cummings could pounce.
Shortly after the restart Cummings had the chance to open the scoring but hammered the ball high and wide from the edge of the box.
Hibs continued to dominate but Stubbs’ side was unable to penetrate the Queens’ defence.
With time running out, David Gray did well to find substitute Paul Heffernan in the box, but the normally reliable striker blazed his shot over the bar and queen of the South held on to secure a share of the points.
Hibs: Perntreou, Gray, Hanlon, Fontaine, Harris (Sinclair 60’), Craig, Stevenson, Handling (Heffernan 60’), S. Allan, Kennedy, Cummings (Stanton 69’). Substitutes not used: Combe, Booth, L. Allan, Crane.
Queen of the South: Clark, Dowie, Duman, Higgins, Holt, McShane, Kerr, Carmichael, Russell (Kidd 75’), Lyle (Reilly 60’), Baird (Dzierzawski 84’). Substitutes not used: Atkinson, Dzierzawski, Fowler, D. Smith, A. Smith.
Referee: George Salmond.
Attendance: 10,069
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
