Hibernian 2-2 Kilmarnock: Dario Del Fabro leveller earns visitors point
- Published
Highlights: Hibernian 2-2 Kilmarnock
Dario del Fabro's stoppage-time leveller denied Hibernian a fourth straight Scottish Premiership victory as Kilmarnock rallied from 2-0 down.
The hosts, who surrendered a lead for the seventh time this term, remain three points adrift of Kilmarnock.
Christian Doidge and Jason Naismith gave Jack Ross' side a commanding lead.
But Alex Bruce prodded in after the hosts failed to clear a corner, before Del Fabro swept home from close range with virtually the final kick.
The Italian's last-gasp intervention prevented Ross from winning a third successive game since being appointed Hibs head coach.
Familiar frailties check Hibs' momentum
For an age, Hibs seemed to be motoring nicely towards another victory, swaggering through meek and malleable Kilmarnock defence and racking up more than 15 shots.
But there is a desperate softness about this team that Ross has yet to eradicate. They have chucked away a quite incredible number of leads - against St Johnstone, Hearts, Celtic, Aberdeen, Hamilton, Ross County and now Kilmarnock - squandering a deluge of points and putting their fans through emotional torture. In five of those games, goals have been lost in the final 10 minutes. It is a heinous record.
This one will hurt all the more given how good they were for so long. Doidge's sixth goal in four games nudged them ahead, albeit it was a truly madcap opener.
In sailed a speculative Scott Allan delivery, floating harmlessly towards Laurentiu Branescu. The goalkeeper, as he rose to collect, was burgled by Doidge, who leapt in front of him, headed straight up, straight back down again, and under the crossbar.
Doidge is not the most dynamic specimen. Nor is he a predatory finisher. But with Florian Kamberi alongside him, he is working his sizeable frame into dangerous areas and getting the breaks that eluded him during his barren early days at the club.
More goals might have followed. Melker Hallberg cracked one towards the corner, Doidge galloped away, stood up Bruce and thudded straight at Branescu, then Joe Newell fizzed narrowly wide.
When Hibs' second came, two minutes into the new half, it was a goal of sumptuous beauty. Allan, their fulcrum, played a one-two with Doidge, and slipped in Vykintas Slivka, who sent Naismith scurrying away on the overlap.
The move would take some finishing from a tight angle, but the right-back unleashed a howitzer that rattled in over the top of Branescu.
At last, flat-lining Kilmarnock showed signs of a pulse. Stephen O'Donnell rasped over from distance. Rory McKenzie, played in by a deflected Niko Hamalainen ball, tried to prod beyond Chris Maxwell with the outside of his boot, but the goalkeeper flung his limbs wide to block.
The tide was turning, though, and Bruce hauled his team off the canvass when Doidge couldn't get rid of Del Fabro's header and the centre-back hoofed in.
Hibs rallied, Martin Boyle and Stevie Mallan forcing solid Branescu saves, but Kilmarnock laid siege to the home end as time ticked away.
Chris Burke, scampering in at the back post, could not reach a fabulous swerving ball from the left. Liam Millar hooked wide when O'Donnell launched a brilliant cross from the right. It was a horror-show to which these Hibs fans have been subjected over and over.
With almost the final act of the game, Del Fabro seized on another aerial bombardment to caress his first Kilmarnock goal into the net. Pandemonium in the away end; anguish in the home stands. Hibs' momentum checked by a painfully familiar salvo.
Man of the match - Dario Del Fabro
BBC Scotland's Jane Lewis at Easter Road
What a time to score your first goal for your club, a dramatic equaliser which might have felt more like a winner.
The Italian came close earlier when Bruce pounced on his effort to score. But his leveller sealed a really important draw for Kilmarnock - important because it keeps them in fifth place, and important because the manner in which they grabbed the point will no doubt do their confidence a power of good.
'We're immensely frustrated' - reaction
Hibernian head coach Jack Ross: "We're immensely frustrated and disappointed. There's no point in dwelling too much on saying large parts of the performance were good if we don't win the game.
"Even the equalising goal, we're in a good position in possession and sometimes just that decision-making, making decisions that are a bit uglier and not so easy on the eye and being a bit more streetwise. But we'll get there with that."
Kilmarnock manager Angelo Alessio: "I believe always we will come back in the games. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not, but I believe, the players too.
"[In the first hour] I didn't recognise my team because they were soft, slow, moved the ball very slowly. Then I think, slowly, slowly, we came back in the game and had the belief to come back."