Ross County once again left it late to secure a result against Hibernian as they drew 1-1 in the Premiership.
The Hibees had taken the lead shortly before half-time courtesy of Dylan Levitt, not long after Jordan White had missed from the spot for the hosts, but an 86th-minute penalty from Ronan Hale levelled the scores.
In the aftermath of Storm Eowyn, it was not a game for the purists as the weather had taken its toll on the Global Energy Stadium turf.
That was reflected in the dearth of chances early on, with only a wild Dwight Gayle volley flying a long way over the bar for Hibs and a tame Noah Chilvers effort from the edge of the box registering on the shot count.
However, just before the half-hour mark a seemingly innocuous cross from Chilvers was cleared away, only for referee David Dickinson to be sent over to the monitor by VAR Matthew MacDermid.
It was adjudged that Hibs winger Nicky Cadden had handballed, with White given the chance to score from the penalty spot – a chance he missed as goalkeeper Jordan Smith made a good save.
And five minutes before the break, the visitors took the lead when County failed to deal with a corner kick.
The ball fell to Levitt on the edge of the box, and he slammed past Jordan Amissah into the bottom corner to give Hibs the advantage.
Nicky Cadden could have doubled Hibs’ lead on the brink of half-time when he received a cross from his twin brother Chris in acres of space, but Amissah was out quickly to deflect the shot behind for a corner kick instead.
Immediately after the restart Josh Campbell had a go at goal for the visitors, but although he struck his effort well it was always rising over the bar.
The game remained locked at 1-0 with neither goalkeeper having much to do until Amissah was needed to punch Martin Boyle’s shot away from danger in the 74th minute.
However, the game burst back into life in the 85th minute when County were awarded another penalty as substitute Kieran Phillips was taken down inside the Hibs box.
With White off the pitch, Hale stepped up and sent Smith the wrong way to equalise for County.
Although both teams tried to cause chaos in the opposition box, neither could find a further breakthrough to claim all three points.
What the manager said…
Hibernian manager David Gray felt that both penalties awarded against his side were questionable as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Ross County.
“Nobody appeals for the first one at all, and actually I think it’s really poor defending for us as Nicky switches off at the back post initially,” he said.
“There’s nobody coming in behind him, the ball’s just going to go out of play and clear the box. The letter of the law is his arm is away from the body, but you need to take these considerations into account as well.
“The penalty in the second half, again, I think is soft. I’ve asked the referee about it and he felt the goalkeeper came out in a reckless way and didn’t win the ball, so as soon as he does that and there is a little bit of contact, VAR are not going to intervene.
“I’m not going to sit here and make excuses because there are other things we can do to make it better, but it does make it a wee bit more frustrating that we came away with just a point when, if we get through that moment, it’s three points and down the road and job done.”
For Ross County boss Don Cowie, Hale’s penalty was further evidence of a message he is determined to keep pressing on his players: that the complexion of matches can change at the drop of a hat.
“It stresses the importance of the message that the game can change at any moment,” he said.
“At certain stages this season we’ve let ourselves down by allowing games to get away from us. It would have been easy to go gung ho in the second half and allow a very good Hibs team to exploit us, but we made sure that wasn’t the case.
“The game changes on a moment of quality from first Andrew MacLeod, then George Robesten’s cross to Kieran Phillips getting across the front post which got us the penalty.”