David Gray 'a bit disappointed' Hibs didn't beat Aberdeen as he hails subs' impact

David Bates opened the scoring on 55 minutes with Paul McGinn levelling on 83 minutes but visiting goalkeeper Joe Lewis thwarted Joe Newell and Elias Melkersen to ensure a share of the spoils.

"I'm a lot happier with the reaction to losing the goal. That was the big disappointment last week; we played really well but once we lost the goal we huffed and puffed, and accepted it a little bit,” Gray said afterwards.

"The reaction today was fantastic. The goal we lost was a second phase from a set piece and we need to defend a lot better. It wasn't good enough, but the reaction was really good.

"Once we got the goal I felt there was only one team that was going to go on and win the game. I'm probably slightly disappointed we didn't win the game in the end, having got back into it.”

Gray’s substitutions – Sylvester Jasper for Josh Campbell and James Scott for Melkersen – combined in the lead-up to the equaliser, Jasper’s cross being nodded on. by Scott for McGinn to poke home at the far post, and the caretaker manager hailed the impact of the replacements.

"Credit to the boys who came on, I thought they made a big difference as well and injected a little bit of energy at a stage in the game where we really needed it which was important.

"In the first half I thought we had a couple of big chances but I wasn't too happy with our play without the ball; I thought it was too easy for Aberdeen to switch the play and we struggled to get hold of the ball.

"When we did have it, our shape was causing them a bit of a problem but we made a wee change at half-time and I thought we started the second half really well and then to lose the goal took the momentum out of us a little bit.”