Hibernian vs Dundee United. Scottish Championship.
Easter RoadAttendance15,492.
Monday 3 October 2016 10:04, UK
Hibernian moved to within a point of Championship leaders Queen of the South following an entertaining 1-1 draw with Dundee United.
James Keatings netted for Hibs 10 minutes before the break at Easter Road, but the home side were frustrated by their fellow promotion hopefuls who the levelled through defender William Edjenguele with quarter of the game remaining.
Keatings almost gave Hibernian the lead after four minutes when his free-kick clipped the top of Cammy Bell's right post after Scott Fraser upended John McGinn a couple of yards outside the box.
United defended resolutely as the home side dominated possession throughout the first quarter and Andrew Shinnie poked the ball wide of the far post on 23 minutes when he connected with a low delivery from McGinn.
The visitors finally offered a threat on 32 minutes when Simon Murray drifted into the penalty area and created a yard of space only to dispatch a weak shot straight at Hibs 'keeper Ofir Marciano.
But Hibernian struck two minutes later when Keatings timed his run between two United defenders to perfection and latched on to a weighted Shinnie pass to fire the ball across goalkeeper Bell into his left corner.
United created another chance when Nick van der Velden controlled a deep corner from United's right flank and worked himself some space before crashing his shot into the side-netting.
Hibernian had the final chance of the half after Dylan McGeouch collected a back-flick from Keatings just inside the United half a drove forward before testing Bell from around 20 yards, but the shot lacked power.
Murray (49) planted a header a foot wide of Marciano's left post from 20 yards when he rose to meet a free-kick from Fraser.
Three minutes later Jason Cummings threaded a pass inside Van der Velden for Paul Hanlon, who weaved into the United box and dragged his low shot wide of the far post.
McGeouch again had another low drive from the edge of the penalty area saved by Bell when the midfielder collected a free-kick and made a diagonal 20-yard run at the United backline.
However, Dundee United levelled the match on 68 minutes though when Edjenguele rose above two defenders to connect with a Fraser corner and send a firm header into the net from eight yards.
Having got back into the game, United appeared content to settle for a point as they defended in depth and invited Hibernian to attack them.
And they were almost undone deep in stoppage-time when Keatings weaved his way into the penalty area and crashed a powerful drive which Bell pushed behind at his near post.
From the resulting corner Bell had to be alert once more as the ball bobbled around the six-yard box and the United stopper got down to snuff out the danger.
