The last time these sides met was Mixu Paatelainen's first match in charge and it finished 3-0 in the home side's favour to curtail Inverness' Scottish Cup aspirations. But if it ended an impressive run for the Highland side it offered promise of
something more than merely a new managerial reign at Hibs. Since that game there has been just one defeat for the Easter Road side, with two draws and two victories, and while plaudits for that will go to the Finnish gaffer, he will be the first to recognise the impact the fit-again Steven Fletcher has had since returning to the first team.
The club's top goalscorer was sorely missed during his spell out injured. He has since formed a fruitful strike partnership with January signing Colin Nish in the three games prior to yesterday's outing, mustering five goals between them. By the time five minutes had elapsed yesterday the pair had added a further two to that tally.
In the third minute, Merouane Zemmama played a ball forward from the midfield and while Grant Munro tried to step up and catch Nish offside, his central defensive partner Phil McGuire was not in sync and with the flag staying down, the big striker buried his chance effortlessly beyond Michael Fraser in the visitors' goal.
Three minutes later and Nish was one of the architects as the capital side extended their lead. This time he played a quick one-two with Zemmama and with Guillaume Beuzelin and Fletcher darting into the area, he picked out the Frenchman, who selflessly fed it to Fletcher. The striker opened up his body and stroked the ball into the net for his 13th goal of the season.
At that stage no bookie in the land would have taken a bet backing Hibs to score several more. It seemed a certainty. The pace and movement at that stage was troubling Inverness in the midfield and defensive areas. But the problem with Hibs of late is maintaining form throughout an entire match. In recent weeks it has taken a half-time lambasting to get them going. Yesterday they started with a bang but then seemed to switch off, with the attackers little more than observers as their team-mates were gradually pinned further and further back into their own box.
While the impressive Marius Niculae seemed confident of having a pop for Inverness, the real danger was still at the other end and the game should have been wrapped up by half-time when Dean Shiels, who scored a hat-trick when the sides last met, was presented with two great chances but squandered both.
They could have come back to worry the home side in the second half when the play swung in favour of Craig Brewster's men. While the Hibs attack may be possessed of some wizardry, at the back they can still look like an accident waiting to happen. But while there were errors, sclaffed clearances and missed tackles there were also generally some safety in numbers with bodies piled back in the box to prevent Inverness finding easy passage to goal.
When they did break through, though, they were foiled by Yves Ma-Kalambay. A goalkeeper who has made more than a few headline-grabbing blunders, he followed up last week's impressive performance against Aberdeen with another solid display. At times Inverness were lining up to have a go and when headers flew in from Ross Tokely and Graham Bayne and shots flew at him from Niculae he stopped the lot. He even pulled off a cracking save when John Rankin almost netted an own goal midway through the second half, not only preventing it crossing the line but also pushing it around the post to foil any follow up.
Had Inverness managed to get one goal, the nerves may have got the better of a Hibs side on the back foot but ultimately Brewster was a frustrated man, claiming his side had created enough chances to win two games. They can argue that they had certainly done enough to merit a share of the points but having given the home side a two goal start, they know they only had themselves to blame.
The full article contains 726 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
