An injury time equaliser denied Hibs the three points their play deserved against Kilmarnock at a cold but sunny Easter Road this afternoon.
Hibs fielded the same starting XI for the fourth game in succession which was hardly surprising since they had taken maximum points from the last three games.
They started brightly mounting attack after attack, playing some outstanding one-touch football at speed and took a deserved lead when Scott Allan’s looped cross was headed into the net by Christian Doidge who somehow managed to outjump Laurentiu Branescu in the Kilmarnock goal.
Hibs continued to attack and Melker Hallberg almost made it 2-0 with a superb strike which Branescu tipped over the bar.
A long ball set up Doidge who drove into the penalty box but fired straight at the keeper with striking partner Florian Kamberi making up ground.
Joe Newell was next to try his luck but his effort flew narrowly wide.
Referee Kevin Clancy annoyed the home supporters with a string of 50/50 decisions going in favour of the visitors and he was booed from the field at half-time.
The fans mood changed quickly however when World Super Lightweight boxing champion Josh Taylor paraded his belt during the half time break and he received a tremendous reception.
Two minutes after the restart Hibs doubled their advantage with a strong contender for goal of the season.
Allan played a one-two with Doidge, before finding Vykintas Slivka, who sent Jason Naismith away on the overlap and the right-back unleashed a sensational strike high into the net from an acute angle.
The goal seemed to inspire Kilmarnock and it took a fine save from Chris Maxwell to deny Rory McKenzie.
Stevie Mallan replaced Allan on 64 minutes and the midfielder left the field to a much-deserved standing ovation but within a minute Alex Bruce reduced the deficit after latching onto a second ball inside the penalty area.
Newell’s shot was then deflected for a corner and Ryan Porteous headed over from the set piece.
Martin Boyle then replaced Kamberi and within minutes his goal-bound shot was deflected just wide.
Melker Hallberg did well to win possession in midfield but after surging forward his effort was easily saved.
Daryl Horgan took over from Newell as Hibs looked to wrap things up and Mallan almost did just that with a terrific free-kick but Branescu just managed to tip round the post.
The Hibs’ fans breathed a sigh of relief when Chris Burke just failed to connect with a cross from the left.
With 87 minutes on the clock, the fourth official held up the board to indicate three minutes left to play causing confusion both on and off the pitch.
When the three minutes were up, he did the same again then with almost the final act of the game, Dario Del Fabro equalised from close range after the Hibs’ defenders failed to deal with a low cross from the right.
The Kilmarnock players celebrated with their fans for well over a minute but Clancy failed to take this into account and blew for full-time dead on time.
After the final whistle Ross told BBC Scotland: “We’re immensely frustrated and disappointed. There’s no point in dwelling too much on saying large parts of the performance were good if we don’t win the game.
“Even the equalising goal, we’re in a good position in possession and sometimes just that decision-making, making decisions that are a bit uglier and not so easy on the eye and being a bit more streetwise. But we’ll get there with that.”
Hibs: Maxwell, Naismith, Porteous, Hanlon, Stevenson, Hallberg, Slivka, Newell, Allan, Kamberi, Doidge. Subs: Marciano, Horgan, Boyle, Mallan, James, Jackson, Shaw.
Kilmarnock: Branescu, O’Donnell, Del Fabro, Bruce, Hamalainen, Power, Dicker, El Makrini, Burke, Sow, McKenzie. Subs: Hendrie, Johnson, Millar, Jackson, Wilson, Thomas, Koprivec.
Referee Kevin Clancy
Attendance 15,180
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.
