Hibs v Rangers ratings and report as David Gray's Euro hopefuls bag another Ibrox win to kickstart SPFL season

Hibs roared back from the loss of a late equaliser to score a dramatic injury-time winner at Ibrox, as David Gray’s men picked up a third away victory over Rangers in three consecutive seasons. A Josh Campbell penalty after just 11 minutes gave Hibs a lead that they held until five minutes from time.

A mistake by Felix Passlack resulted in Miguel Chaiwa scoring a desperately unlucky own goal to give Derek McInnes’ men a lifeline. But substitute Callum Wright beat Ivor Pandur with a deflected low left-footed strike with 92 minutes on the clock, sending the away fans wild – and setting Hibs up for this week’s return to European action.

With Thursday night’s all-important UEFA Conference League clash in Skopje looming large on the calendar, Hibs were always likely to rest key men for this one. Still, there would have been a few audible gasps among travelling fans when they saw the starting XI here.

In came Kanayo Megwa, Thibault Klidje, Campbell and Ante Suto, with Felix Passlack, Nathan Lowe, Owen Elding and Martin Boyle – the latter not even risked on the bench, which suggests his Achilles’ tendon problem may be more serious than initially suspected – all dropping out. Never dull for teams trying to fight on two fronts at that start of a new campaign, is it?

The visitors certainly started with intent to press and harry Rangers. No bad thing at a venue where the locals started voicing their anger within about 120 seconds of kick-off; Easter Road has nothing on this place when it comes to a reputation for being a tough room.

When some energetic chasing of a lost cause by Campbell led to a corner for the away side, Jordan Obita’s delivery was bound for the head of Jason Kerr – until he went down in a tussle with Vanja Dragojevic. There were no huge appeals for a penalty.

When referee Don Robertson was eventually called to review the incident almost two minutes later, however, the match official didn’t take long before awarding Hibs the perfect chance to take the lead. One that Campbell took. And enjoyed, judging by his celebration in front of the home fans.

Rangers rallied, as they inevitably would, and Youseff Chermiti – having already pulled one shot wide – must have though he’d scored with 24 minutes gone. But his low left-footed shot was cleared off the line by Megwa.

While the hosts had more shots from range, Hibs should have gone 2-0 up eight minutes before half-time, Klidje lifting his shot over from close quarters after Suto and Campbell had ripped through Rangers on the right flank. Had either Kerr or Suto managed to squeeze the ball home from Campbell’s corner bang on the interval, instead of both efforts being blocked, the visitors would have gone in sitting on a comfortable lead.

Gray was able to strengthen his team early in the second half, bringing on Lowe, Callum Wright and – for his first outing of the season – Jamie McGrath. All were asked to put in one heck of a shift as Rangers continued to throw bodies and balls into the box.

Raphael Sallinger, who had made a couple of solid stops, pulled off one hugely important save from new Rangers captain Lawrence Shankland bang on the hour mark. But he could do nothing about Chaiwa diverting Mohamed Diomande’s low cross beyond him from point-blank range.

Sallinger did deny Shankland again in a crazy closing siege on the Hibs goal, diving to his left to claw away a goal-bound header. And that proved precious as the visitor launched a counter-attack with the 90 minutes gone, Wright finishing with the aid of a diversionary nick to spark mad – but extremely familiar - celebrations in the far corner at Ibrox.