Hibs suffer another late collapse against Motherwell - ratings include one 4/10 for red card flop

This one hurt. Not just because the winning goal came from a player Hibs fans love to hate. But because, on an afternoon when the home side finished the game reduced to 10 men, David Gray’s side were once again the architects of their own downfall.

In losing a match they really had to win, Hibs will reflect on missed chances and another inevitable failure to deal with a set-piece threat. In this instance the much-discussed long throw-in of Kofi Balmer, whose mighty hurl in the box produced the winner 11 minutes from time – by which team the hosts had seen Nectar Triantis, shown a yellow card for a first-half dive, dismissed for a second booking.

The details? A thumping finish from a tight angle by Apostolos Stamatelopoulos with 56 minutes gone, the Australian ghosting in on a clever Lennon Miller free-kick, saw the visitors go ahead against the run of play. But Hibs took less than two minutes to equalise through a brilliant bit of play by Junior Hoilett.

And then it all went wrong. Triantis dived in on Halliday with a scissors challenge 13 minutes from time. Before Balmer’s mighty throw, which Gray had described in the build-up as being capable of causing mayhem, found Halliday for a close-range finish.

It had all started so well, too, with Hibs dominating early exchanges. Indeed, it took a blinding double save – and a goal-line clearance – in the space of 30 frantic seconds to prevent them from taking a lead with 18 minutes on the clock, Myko Kuharevich the unlucky man to see all three efforts denied. Goalkeeper Aston Oxborough was thwarted Myko’s header and close-range shot from the rebound. And even when the Ukrainian striker beat the goalie to the corner kick that followed, his goal-bound header was cleared off the line by Kofi Balmer.

The home side had been slowly building up the pressure to that point. Lewis Miller probably should have hit the target with a back-post header from a deep Hoilett corner. The visitors weren’t without moments themselves, though, and it took a couple of lunging blocks by defenders to prevent them from really testing Josef Bursik in the Hibs goal.

Although some of their build-up play looked on the sluggish side in a first half of limited incident, Gray’s men did manage a flurry of activity in and around the Motherwell penalty box just before the interval. Chris Cadden couldn’t hit the target after a Lewis Miller long throw – take that, Mr Balmer – while Oxborough went full stretch to turn Hyeokkyu Kwon’s low, left-footed curler beyond the post with a strong right hand.

Cadden squandered a golden chance early in the second half, driving his low shot from 12 yards straight at Oxborough after fantastic work by Kuharevich. And it looked as if that would prove very costly to Hibs as Motherwell took the lead.

Josh Campbell endured a horrid 60 seconds, first conceding the free-kick on Miller after a heavy touch – and then losing the run of the goal scorer. Just like that, the mood turned, as fans began to fear the worst.

In search of a hero, those supporters found Hoilett up to the task, as the veteran winger stood up his man and almost passed the ball beyond Oxborough, his low curling effort crossing the line just inside the far post. And then? Well, it’s not as if Easter Road regulars haven’t seen this movie before.

A moment of rashness. A set-piece that found the defence flat-footed. And a sickening blow to the solar plexus. Same old same old, in other words.