Hibs had to settle for a share of the points at Easter Road this afternoon as bottom of the table Dundee fought back from two goals down.
Neil Lennon made two changes to the starting XI that lost to Aberdeen two weeks ago with Paul Hanlon and Daryl Horgan returning at the expense of Darren McGregor and Vykintas Slivka.
Hibs Socceroos’ trio Mark Milligan, Jamie Maclaren and Martin Boyle all started despite having played in Australia in midweek.
Hibs got off to the best possible start when Daryl Horgan’s cross was headed into his own net by Dundee defender Genseric Kusunga after only 40 seconds.
The visitors fought back however and former Hibs and Rangers striker Kenny Miller almost equalised but was just unable to get on the end of a fine cross from his namesake Calvin Miller.
The home fans were celebrating again in the 10th minute when Jamie Maclaren fired the ball into the net after some good work by Horgan and Florian Kamberi but the assistant referee spotted an offside infringement in the build up.
Former Dundee player Boyle almost made it 2-0 with an angled drive which flew inches wide before Adam Bogdan pulled off a superb save to deny Miller’s powerful header from eight-yards.
Maclaren missed two great chances to double Hibs advantage but the Dundee defenders managed to block his close range efforts.
It was only a matter of time before Hibs increased their lead and the goal eventually arrived in the 30th minute when Ryan Porteous bulleted in a header from Stevie Mallan’s free-kick.
Despite being in control, the Hibs’ fans were infuriated at the performance of referee Greg Aitken who missed several obvious fouls. Kamberi in particular was subjected to some brutal treatment and to add insult to injury, three of the offences were committed within range of free-kick expert Mallan.
In time added on at the end of the first half Dundee pulled one back against the run of play when Miller scored from close range after fine play by Nathan Ralph.
That goal changed the game and it was the visitors who started the second half with their tails up.
After a fine move Paul McGowan curled the ball past Bogdan into the far corner of the net to level the score, much to the delight of the travelling supporters.
Bogdan did well to deny Jamie Cullan before Lennon replaced Milligan and Maclaren with Marvin Bartley and Thomas Agyepong.
Dundee keeper Jack Hamliton did well to save from Boyle as Hibs pressed for a winner.
Agyepong went close from an acute angle after a lengthy run but was subsequently forced to leave the field with an injury and was replaced by youngster Jamie Gullan.
Boyle again went close after good work by Efe Ambrose then in time added on Mallan’s free kick was nodded down by Hanlon but Porteous’ volley flew just wide of the far post.
After the game a disappointed Lennon said: “It’s symptomatic of the spell we’re going through at the minute. We don’t put teams away and we’ve conceded two poor goals by switching off.
Hibs: Bogdan, Hanlon, Milligan (Bartley 59’), Horgan, Maclaren (Agyepong 59’ (Gullan 86’)), Boyle, Mallan, Stevenson, Kamberi, Ambrose, Porteous. Substitutes not used: Marciano, Whittaker, Slivka, Mackie.
Dundee: Hamilton, Kerr, Ralph, Woods (Spence 81’), Kusunga, O’Dea, Kamara, C. Miller (Lambert 78’), McGowan, K. Miller (Moussa 85’), Curran. Substitutes not used: Parish, Ngwatala, Inniss, Boyle.
Referee: Greg Aitken.
Attendance: 16,685.
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.
