Terry Butcher made one tactical change – a largely successful swap of Kerr for Hamilton – choosing to pack the midfield. It gave us the edge in the midfield scrap, Hibs struggled to impose themselves on the game but we did notice the lack of men up front. Poor Scott McDonald was given a thankless task to chase about by himself.
We made the early running and put some pressure on the Hibs defence. A nice move almost resulted in a goal from Foran but the ‘keeper was sharp to make the save. McDonald was looking lively and another run from him allowed Corrigan to step inside and after some great skill his shot flew just wide.
Derek Riordan gave us a reminder that Hibs were present with a dangerous chip which drifted just wide. But this was pretty much their only chance in what was for them a very disappointing half.
McDonald snatched at an effort when he had time in the box before the game sank into a midfield struggle. We had a couple of penalty shouts – both would have been soft but similar decisions have been given. There was then the rare sight of a properly contested drop ball (won by O'Donnell) but the game was losing it's early promise.
Last gasp celebrations
It brightened up five minutes before the break when great work from McDonald wrestled the ball from a Hibs defender and his cross was met perfectly by Phil O'Donnell who finished with a lovely side footed shot. Hibs offered some token resistance through some long range efforts but by and large we deserved our half time advantage.
Both on target today
The second half started at a quick pace and we should have been two up within a minute. A poor pass was intercepted but McDonald could not beat the ‘keeper one v one. The rebound didn't quite fall for O'Donnell and by the time he got into position to shoot there were enough defenders on the line to clear the danger. Hibs then equalised totally against the run of play when Sproule stole the ball on the edge of the box. He reached the by line and his cut back gave Killen the easiest tap in he'll ever score.
Brian McLean had a header cleared off the line from a corner before Foran zipped a cross through the box but there were no takers when the simplest of touches would have restored our lead. Hibs were beginning to look a bit more comfortable but were still not threatening – Riordan's speculative lob was the closest they came. Then came a turning point when Corrigan went off – presumably injured – for Paul Quinn. It was Quinn's first appearance for months and it showed; his distribution was appalling and he seemed to be posted missing when Glass was played through to beat Meldrum. There would probably be issues over other defenders too but there is no doubting that this was another poor goal to lose.
We lacked ideas in getting back into the game and the introduction of Paterson and Hamilton did little to change things. However, in injury time we had a corner that was only half cleared, a shot from Kerr was blocked into the path of Craigan and he finished with his left foot to win us a vital point.