Hibs 3 Aberdeen 3
Hibernian and Aberdeen fought out an incredible six-goal thriller as Easter Road came alive under the lights in Leith.
It was an incredible, breathless 90 minutes of football that witnessed no fewer than three goals in second half added time.
Hibs went into the break deservedly ahead after Joe Newell’s effort shortly before the interval.
Yet, our lady luck appeared to have deserted us once again as Newell and Nicky Cadden struck the woodwork whilst Jamie McGrath and Nicky Devlin scored at the other end to turn the game on its head.
The visitors led 2-1 going into the 92nd minute before a crazy finish to a wonderful match.
Nicky Cadden curled a sensational free-kick into the top right-hand corner only for Ester Sokler to score an unbelievable scissor kick just moments later and seemingly win it for the Dons.
Yet, once again the Hibees came roaring back with Rocky Bushiri the unlikely goal hero in the 97th minute as we snatched a draw, even if a point was the least that we deserved.
David Gray made four changes from the defeat to Dundee with the first seeing Jordan Smith making his Easter Road debut in goal.
In defence, Lewis Miller and Jack Iredale came into the team whilst Junior Hoilett started behind a front two of Elie Youan and Mykola Kuharevich.
Josef Bursik, Josh Campbell and Chris Cadden dropped to the bench, whilst Jordan Obita missed out altogether through suspension.
The game started with pace and purpose however we had to wait until the 12th minute before there was a serious effort on goal with Rocky sliding in to block McGrath’s shot at the near post.
Less than a minute later and Youan showed wonderful trickery to evade three challenges from Dons defenders before he let fly with a vicious effort that Dimitar Mitov had to push around his near post at the expense of a corner kick.
The Dons 'keeper didn’t appear too comfortable dealing with crosses into his box and on 21 minutes he came to try and collect a Nicky Cadden delivery only to be outjumped by Rocky, who could only guide his header just over the crossbar.
Hibs were on top in the match and in Aberdeen’s faces, however the visitors were enjoying some luck down our right and from a Duk backheel, Jack MacKenzie was able to cut the ball back to McGrath only for Rocky to once again block his shot from close range.
As half-time loomed Youan again showed quick feet to carve out a shooting opportunity that Slobodan Rubezic deflected wide for a corner kick, from which we would break the deadlock.
Nicky Cadden’s delivery was only partially cleared before the ball dropped to Newell on the edge of the box and his powerful drive took a wicked deflection to leave Mitov flat-footed and find the back of the net.
We quickly sought a second goal and had a penalty shout when Nicky Devlin appeared to handle whilst grounded before Cadden’s corner kick was headed just wide by Kuharevich.
Aberdeen had the final chance of the first half when Hoilett was dispossessed near the corner flag and MacKenzie quickly crossed for Kevin Nisbet to head tamely at Smith, who gathered gratefully.
That would be Nisbet’s final touch as he was replaced by Leighton Clarkson during the interval.
The Hibees started the second period on the front foot and were desperately unlucky not to extend their lead when Hoilett saw his shot blocked and from the rebound Newell curled a low shoot off the base of the post with Mitov beaten.
It was quickly followed by a Nicky Cadden angled drive that flashed across the face of goal and just wide of the far post.
The match was being played like a cup-tie as both teams committed to attack and from a fine driving run and lay-off from Devlin, McGrath sliced an effort wide.
Jimmy Thelin’s response to his side’s sluggish start to the second half was to replace Topi Keskinen with Shayden Morris and the substitute made an instant impact getting to the byline on the left before picking out Duk, who saw his shot blocked, however McGrath was on hand to score from the rebound.
We attempted to respond quickly and almost did so when Youan’s volley at the back post was kept out superbly by Devlin, who bravely threw himself down in front of the winger to block with his body.
Both sides were trading blows like a boxing match as they looked for a knockout with Shinnie bringing out a save from Smith before Mitov spilt a corner kick and Warren O’Hora hooked it just over.
Rocky was fortunate not to find his own net on 66 minutes when he slid in to cut out Morris’ cross for Duk; thankfully Smith was alert and saved down to his right to keep it out.
Clarkson then saw his curling free-kick kept out by Smith at full-stretch before the Dons did take the lead. Shinnie’s corner kick wasn’t collected cleanly by Smith and Devlin lobbed a wonderful finish into the net to spark wild celebrations behind the goal.
Again, Hibs sought a quick response and again, we almost had one. A looping cross from the right found Cadden sliding in at the back post only for his volley to crash back off the crossbar with Mitov stranded.
Martin Boyle was introduced for the closing moments as we threw caution to the wind and in the 92nd minute Nicky Cadden curled a stunning free-kick into the top-right corner of Mitov’s net to restore parity.
However, there would be a dramatic sting in the tail as Morris got to the byline before crossing and Sokler scored an incredible scissor kick to apparently win it at the death for the visitors.
Yet, the Hibees showed remarkable character not to give in and immediately drove forward - getting our just reward as Rocky bundled the ball in from close range to secure a deserved share of the spoils.