Hibs came from behind to secure three valuable points against a well-organised Hamilton Academical side at Easter Road tonight.
Head Coach Jack Ross made three changes to the starting XI that drew with Dundee United in te Scottish Cup on Sunday.
Skipper David Gray and Adam Jackson replaced the injured duo Jason Naismith and Ryan Porteous whilst Vykintas Slivka took over from Steve Whittaker in midfield.
Hamilton started brightly and within 30 seconds Andrew Dales fired a cross along the Hibs six-yard box which caused the home defence problems then George Oakley headed over from a corner.
The Hibs players were second to every ball and every misplaced pass was greeted with groans from the frustrated fans.
It was only a matter of time before Accies took a deserved lead when Alex Gogic rose at the back post to nod home former Hibs’ player Scott Martin’s corner.
Hamilton continued to press forward at every opportunity and Blair Alston came close to a second with a powerful left-foot strike.
The half-time whistle sparked a chorus of boos from the home supporters and Slivka and Melker Hallberg were replaced by new signing Stephane Omeonga and Joe Newell.
Seven minutes later Daryl Horgan replaced Scott Allan who had been closely marked from the start.
From then on it was one-way traffic with Hibs attacking at every opportunity. Horgan set up Florian Kamberi but his close-range strike was blocked by Owain Fon-Williams.
The equaliser arrived in the 64th minute after Kamberi played the ball inside McMann and Markus Fjortoft for Martin Boyle whose effort rebounded of the inside of a post and Chritian Doidge was on hand to tap the ball into the net from a yard out.
Kamberi then set up Horgan but Fon-Williams produced a superb save to deny the Irishman.
Omeonga, after a nervy start quickly discovered the form that made him such a favourite with the fans during his loan spell last year.
With four minutes remaining Newell found Boyle in space and the Australian international fired a superb cross into the Accies box which Paul Hanlon nodded the ball into the net sparking delight from the relieved fans.
After the final whistle Ross told BBC Scotland: “I suppose if you look at that sensibly then you might say a draw would be a fair result. As poor as we were first half, I thought we were good in the second half.
“It was a far different performance and on balance of the chances created over the course of the game I’d say we deserved to win it.”
Hibs: Marciano, Gray, Jackson, Hanlon, Stevenson, Slivka, Hallberg, Boyle, Allan, Kamberi, Doidge. Subs: Horgan, Newell, James, McGregor Bogdan, Omeonga, Gullan
Hamilton: Fon-Williams, McMann, Fjortoft, Easton, Colla, Gogic, Martin, Dales, Alston, Miller, Oakley. Subs: Hunt, Davies, Winter, Want, Gourlay, Smith, Ogkmpoe
Referee: Andrew Dallas
Attendance 14,674
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.
