Hibs emerged victorious after a nerve-wracking 90 minutes against Dundee at Easter Road this afternoon.
Neil Lennon retained the same starting XI that defeated Kilmarnock 3-0 at Rugby Park on Tuesday night.
Steven Whittaker and Danny Swanson both missed out due to injury although Anthony Stokes who has trained all week returned to the squad and was listed amongst the substitutes.
Hibs opened the scoring in the opening minute when John McGinn won a 50/50 challenge on the halfway line. The ball fell to Martin Boyle who ran 40 yards before firing a low shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Boyle looked dangerous every time he got possession and the home supporters were anticipating a ‘cricket score’ but Dundee got back into the game against the run of play in the 20th minute when Marcus Haber headed home from a Roarie Deacon cross.
Referee John Beaton infuriated the Hibs fans with a number of ‘strange’ decisions which all fell the way of the visitors. The boos from the crowd however seemed to make him more determined not to give Hibs the benefit of the doubt.
Dylan McGeouch limped off in the 31st minute and was replaced by Stokes then a superb tackle by Paul Hanlon denied Lewis Spence.
Lennon changed from a 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2 at half time, replacing David Gray with Ryan Porteous and Brandon Barker with Vykintas Slivka.
Dundee almost took the lead in the 48th minute but Ofir Marciano produced a world class save to deny visitors.
Porteous was harshly booked for a challenge which resulted in a stramash in the middle of the field and Jack Hendry fell to the ground for no apparent reason before being persuaded by his team mates to get up.
Hendry and Stokes were both shown yellow cards in the aftermath.
Simon Murray went close with two good chances as Hibs looked to regain the lead. The goal finally came in the 62nd minute when Hanlon found Stokes on the left and the Irishman curled in a sensational cross which Murray volleyed into the net from close range.
Stokes then had the ball in the net after toe-poking in a Hanlon shot but the effort was ruled out for offside.
Dundee fought hard and Lewis Stevenson produced a fantastic tackle to prevent Faissal El Bakhtaoui breaking clear.
Stokes set up Hanlon in the dying minutes but the man of the match shot inches wide from an acute angle and Hibs held on to secure their fourth successive victory.
Hibs: Marciano, Gray, Hanlon, Bartley, McGinn, McGeouch, S. Murray, Stevenson, Boyle, Barker, Ambrose. Subs: Laidlaw, Slivka, Matulevicius, Stokes, Shaw, F.Murray, Porteous.
Dundee: Parish, Kerr, Holt, Kamara, McGowan, El Bakhtaoui, Deacon, Hendry, Meekings, Spence, Haber. Subs: Ferrie, Leitch-Smith, Mussa, Wolters, Curran, Waddell
Referee John Beaton
Attendance 16,936
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.
