Ten man Hibs slumped to a fourth league defeat in seven games after a 2-1 loss at home to Motherwell.
The game was finely poised at one a-piece after Junior Hoilett had cancelled out Apostolos Stamatelopoulos‘ second half opener, when Nector Triantis was shown a second yellow card twelve minutes from time.
The winner came via a long throw from Kofi Balmer who picked out Andy Halliday to volley home.
On another day Hibs could have scored four unanswered goals.
Mykola Kuharevich was denied three times in the space of a minute. First he saw a double close range effort stopped by Aston Oxborough and from he resulting corner the goalkeeper came to collect the cross, missed the ball and watched the forward head goalward where Lennon Miller was on hand to clear it off the line.
Kwon then had another opportunity for Hibs with an effort from the edge of the area turned behind by Oxborough. The home side then passed up another golden chance five minutes after the break when Kuharevich slipped in Chris Cadden who could only fire his shot straight at the advancing goalkeeper.
On his first start since returning from an injury which ruled him out for over a month, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos gave Motherwell the lead five minutes in the second period. Lennon Miller, who had been outstanding in the opening period, took a clever free kick finding Stamatelopoulos in acres of space on the right hand side of the penalty area who lashed his effort into the roof of the net.
The lead however lasted all of three minutes as Hibs broke up the other end and Junior Hoillett curled a low effort beyond Oxborough to level the match. A score line which probably more accurately depicted the home side’s first half showing.
As both sides competed for dominance in the closing stages Hibs were dealt a blow when Nectar Triantis was dismissed for a second yellow card with 12 minutes left. Having been booked for diving in the first period he was order off after a late tackle on Tony Watt.
It took no time at all for Motherwell to make the man advantage count and three minutes later they were ahead. Kofi Balmer unleashed an incredible long throw into the six yard box which Andy Halliday met with an excellent volley to give the visitors all three points.
