Dundee United 2-2 Hibernian: Hosts twice fight back from behind
- Published
Highlights: Hibernian 2-2 Dundee United
Dundee United twice came from behind to deny Hibernian a place in the last 16 of the Scottish Cup and preserve their own 13-game unbeaten run.
First Lawrence Shankland, then Louis Appere, scored for the runaway Scottish Championship leaders to cancel out efforts in each half by Christian Doidge and Martin Boyle in an absorbing tie at Tannadice.
Hibs, the more accomplished side for much of the contest, will rue a rake of missed opportunities, but United forced a replay a week on Tuesday.
The last away team to win at Tannadice? East Fife, in the League Cup group stage in July. Before that, it was Queen of the South in March. Hibs, then, would have expected a tricky time, but for 45 minutes this tie unfolded more smoothly for the Premiership side than many may have anticipated.
From the moment, three minutes in, that Mark Connolly's thigh denied Florian Kamberi a ferocious opener, Hibs looked the more threatening in the opening half. Playing up the slope, they should have been two ahead inside 16 minutes, but instead only had Doidge's opener to show for their dominance.
The striker, maligned in the opening weeks of his Hibs career, adroitly funnelled his 10th goal of the campaign past Benjamin Siegrist after drifting on to Boyle's cute reverse pass into the area. But the goalkeeper would deny Melker Hallberg not long afterwards, a strong hand pushing away the midfielder's low strike after a scampering Boyle break.
United had only conceded four times in their previous 12 matches, but the speed of thought and movement shown by their top-flight guests proved discomfiting. Siegrist was required to thrust out a foot to deny Kamberi just after the half hour and watch another shot flash past.
Yet, for all the Championship side had barely been seen as an attacking force, the presence of Shankland was always a reason for Hibs to be wary. The Scotland striker, with 24 goals in 24 games for United this term, had barely impacted on the contest until the dregs of the first half when one moment of assuredness levelled the tie.
Shankland looked like he had been crowded out when Ian Harkes' pass reached him inside the area, but a pause and shift of weight left him alone and able to shunt a composed finished past Ofir Marciano.
How Hibs reacted to that concession would be crucial. The Easter Road side responded quickly and clinically. Kamberi again caused problems with a burst on the left, before slipping inside to Scott Allan. He checked and rolled to Boyle, who spanked an unerring low finish past Siegrist from 20 yards.
Hibs continued to play with zest, with Allan and Steven Whittaker both troubling Siegrist. But this is a United team unaccustomed to losing, and that, combined with their visitors beginning to feel the pace after being idle since 29 December, combined to warp the shape of the game again.
There seemed little danger when substitute Appere assumed possession on the left, but the young attacker cut inside and curled a delicious low effort around a thicket of defenders and past Marciano to level.
Appere tried again a few minutes later, with significantly less success, but Hibs came closest to a winner when Doidge was thwarted by yet another Siegrist stop. So instead of there being a winner at the first attempt, the sides will reconvene at Easter Road on 28 January to do it all over again.
Player Rater: Man of the match - Louis Appere
Dundee United manager Robbie Neilson: "I was delighted with the players, and delighted with the performance. We lost two poor goals but we managed to fight back and get good opportunities.
"When you're in the Championship, even if you're doing really well there's still that doubt 'Can you do it against the top teams in the country?' and I think today we showed that we can."
Hibernian manager Jack Ross: "Frustrated not to win the game when we've been ahead twice. But there's a lot more positives to take from the game than negatives.
"The injuries [to Jason Naismith and Ryan Porteous] will need to be assessed but it's not looking too positive."