Hibs lost 2-1 to on form Motherwell at Easter Road yesterday, leaving David Gray’s men in 10th place with only five points from their opening seven games.
Gray kept faith with the same starting XI that was unlucky to lose to Rangers at Ibrox last weekend.
Martin Boyle, Joe Newell, Kieron Bowie, Nicky Cadden and Luke Amos all missed the game through injury.
The home side had the better of the opening half and were unfortunate not to go into the dressing room with a one or two goal advantage.
With 18 minutes gone Mykola Kuharevich got on the end of a Jordan Obita cross but ‘Well keeper Aston Oxborough made a stunning point-blank save to deny the striker before Davor Zdravkovski blocked his effort from the rebound.
Then, from the resultant Hoilett’s corner the Ukrainian striker saw his header cleared off the goal line by Motherwell’s rising star Lennon Miller
Kuharevich and Chris Cadden both went close and just before the break Oxborough produced another fine save to deny Kwon.
Shortly after the restart Hibs passed up a great chance to open the scoring when Kuharevich won the ball in midfield, drove forward and set up Cadden but once again Oxborough produced a great save.
But despite Hibs dominance it was the visitors who took the lead following a cleverly taken free-kick from Miller which found Apostolos Stamatelopoulos who opened his Well account with a clinical near-post finish.
Moments later a Stephen O’Donnell allowed Junior Hoilett to drive forward and curl in a superb equaliser.
Hibs were then reduced to 10 when Nectar Triantis was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Tony Watt.
The winner arrived moments later when Kofi Balmer’s long throw was met on the volley at close range by former Hearts midfielder Andy Halliday.
The Hibs supporters demonstrated their frustration on the final whistle.
“It’s very difficult to take,” Gray told BBC Scotland. “It’s clear, we can’t dominate as much as we did and create the chances we did and not win the game.
“You can’t not take those chances at this level. The set pieces in the second half – unprofessional. You need to see it through and defend your goal.”
Hibs: Bursik, Miller, Ekpiteta, O’Hora, Obita, Kwon, Triantis, C. Cadden, Campbell, Hoilett, Kuharevich.
Substitutes: Smith, Levitt, Youan, Iredale, McKirdy, Moriah-Welsh, Bushiri, Gayle, Molotnikov.
Motherwell: Oxborough, McGinn, Gordon, Balmer, O’Donnell, Zdravkovski, Miller, Halliday ,Wilson, Stamatelopoulos, Robinson
Subs: Hegyi, Seddon, Sparrow, Blaney, Kaleta, Koutroumbis, Ebiye, Watt, Maswanhise
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.
