Hibs throwback to early-season struggles must be a one-off relapse, as Gray rues failure to put Killie away

It’s been a while. Five years since Hibs won at Rugby Park. And a good half season, in this campaign of extremes, since David Gray’s men felt like this.

In a game they should have won, the consolation prize of extending their Scottish Premiership unbeaten run to a staggering 14 straight games doesn’t really feel like enough. Not when the three points were squandered in such careless fashion, at such a late stage of proceedings, in a draw that had all the emotional impact of a defeat.

That former Hibs kid Fraser Murray should be the one to stick the knife into his old club, cancelling out skipper Martin Boyle’s first-half strike with an injury-time equaliser, added to the hurt. Still, it says something for Hibs, and the work done by Gray, that they’ve avoided this sort of a scenario for so long.

Victory thrown away

The manager himself is under no illusions over how this game SHOULD have ended, Gray insisting: “I think it probably feels like two points dropped because of the level of performance and how I felt the game went. I thought we had the best chances in the game.

“So it’s a good away performance, we dominated the ball at times, showed real bravery on the ball and control. But when it's only 1-0, you always run the risk of being pegged back.

“Kilmarnock are a team that are always going to force you to defend and have moments in the game. Up until the last bit there, I thought we dealt with that really well. But obviously it feels a bit sore at the minute because of the fact you lose the goal so late.

“Hopefully it's a point closer to where we need to be. It could be a massive point between now and the end of the season because it's a difficult place to come down here.

“Kilmarnock’s home form shows you that this season. They've won six games out of the eight games they've won here. So it was always a tough task. But I think we responded in a real positive way to a defeat last week.

“That's 14 games undefeated in the league. So it's a positive to take from it as well.”

Gulf in class

Derek McInnes made no bones about the quality gap between his battling home side and the visitors, the Kilmarnock boss pointing out: “This is the best Hibs team we’ve come up against in a while. Hibs are better than us. The league table shows that.”

In fairness, Hibs proved as much for most of this game. Without really creating a load of must-score chances, they were in control – even when going with three up front at the start of the second half.

“Possibly,” said Gray, when asked if his team should have been more clinical. “A couple of chances potentially. But we never really had real clear-cut ones.

“I think we had some chances where we could do better. But as I've just said, the frustration is there because it's so late on in the game. I think that's the big thing that comes with it. But I can't fault the players' application, their effort, what I'm asking them to do within the game.

“They showed real bravery on the ball to try and play in the right areas and do the things we asked them to do. And apart from that one action at the end, it was a very good performance. Up until that point, it was a brilliant away performance.”

Hibs were so good for so long. Without getting the win that would have tightened their grip on third place, however, any praise feels like the joke about the reporter asking Mrs Lincoln what she thought of the play …

The bad days are still over, right?

One late equaliser conceded does not mean Hibs have slipped back into the role they filled early in this season of extremes. It’s one goal, guys. Not the beginning of a trend.

“No, I think that's just something that happens in football,” said Gray. “I think you can never think that you're over the line.

“If you look at the goal we lose, it's a poor goal. We gave away a silly foul at the edge on the halfway line which was needless. And then from there they get the long throw.

“So they're going to have moments in the game that force you to defend within the game. I thought we dealt with that really well. But in that moment, we went to defend it better and we paid the price for it.”

A move straight from training ground

Martin Boyle’s 14th goal of the season underlined his importance to Hibs. Again. The Socceroos forward is definitely back to something approaching his best in green-and-white. And he was in the right place to finish off the sort of counter-attack situation that Hibs work on regularly.

“He's done that for a number of years at this level,” Gray pointed out, the gaffer adding: “It can really affect games. Real threat on the break especially.

“I think the goal comes from being set up properly at a corner. Junior switching on, the set-up being really good.

“Everyone doing their job defensively and then they break away from there. Then it’s about the composure from Dylan Levitt.

“That's something you'll do in training when you do two v ones in practice moments. It's very different in a game when it's under pressure and you need to get that timing right. He showed real composure, real quality, weight to pass.

“It's great that Boyley gets his reward for sprinting up the pitch and the timing. It’s a good run and a good finish.”

Still unbeaten in the league

“The players deserve it for everything they're putting into it,” is how Gray views this 14-game league run without loss, the boss insisting: “We're not looking at the run worried about that ending.

“We're looking at the run and saying we deserve to get the points we've got. How far can we take it?

“Now people are trying to catch you, clearly. But there's three games to go before the split. And we are now setting a task of how many points can we get to make sure one, we need to cement top six, which came a point closer towards today, which is great.

“We have two home games to come and an away fixture. We've had to go on that run to put ourselves in this position.

“So it's all to play for - for everyone. Everyone's going to have massive game. But hopefully that's a big point moving forward.”