Hibs Show Resilience After Gray Exit as Aberdeen Drop Points

It has been a bruising week at Easter Road. The board made their call, and it was a cold one: Nick Montgomery’s successor, the popular and relatively successful David Gray, was told after just six league games that he was no longer the man to lead Hibs forward.

Into that void stepped Jon Potter, back in Leith for a second spell on the coaching staff and tasked with doing something simple on paper but brutal in reality – lift a squad that had just seen a well-liked figure pushed out the door. He spoke about overcoming the blow, about leaning on the positives, about jolting the mood.

For 45 minutes, none of it landed.

Hibs opened flat and anxious. Passes went astray, touches were heavy, and apart from the lively Callum Wright there was precious little to cling to. Aberdeen sensed it and feasted on the nerves, springing forward whenever Hibs coughed up possession. The visitors thrived on those counter-attacking lanes, happy to sit, pounce and run.

The pattern felt familiar. The frustration, too.

But the interval changed something. Hibs came back out looking like a different team. They went more direct. They snapped into tackles. They played with a level of intensity and aggression that had been completely absent before the break. Suddenly Aberdeen were the ones backpedalling, and the equaliser that eventually arrived felt earned rather than fortunate.

That second-half surge gave the home support something to cling to. It did not, however, chase away the awkward questions that will hang over the club across the international break.

• Why can this Hibs side rarely stitch together a complete 90 minutes?
• Why do they start games so slowly, so often?
• And, beneath all of that, is there enough genuine quality in this squad for the next manager to work with?

Those are the issues waiting on the desk of whoever takes the job next. With club football now on hold for three weeks, the search for that figure becomes the only game in town at Easter Road.

While Hibs wrestle with identity and direction, Aberdeen at least know what they are trying to be under Stephen Robinson. The Northern Irishman raised eyebrows earlier in the season when, as his side laboured in a 4-3-3, he breezily declared that “shape is for pundits”.

He has quietly gone back to what he knows best.

Robinson has reverted to three centre-backs and two strikers, the framework that brought him consistent success at St Mirren. The difference has been stark. Aberdeen look more secure without the ball, they press with greater cohesion, and when they break, they break with menace thanks to the pace up top.

Two players have underpinned that shift. At the back, Mats Knoester has emerged as the standout defender at the club, reading danger early and bringing a calm edge to the back line. In midfield, Afeez Aremu has been everywhere – snapping into duels, pinching possession, then keeping things simple to launch attacks. Between them, they have changed the feel of this team in recent weeks.

Which is exactly why this result will sting Robinson.

For all Hibs’ improvement after the interval, Aberdeen had the game where they wanted it when Kevin Nisbet produced a moment of real quality. His touch, his turn, his finish – all clinical, all in one movement – put Aberdeen in front and underlined why he remains their most reliable source of goals. It was his third consecutive game on the scoresheet, a run that offers comfort but also highlights a nagging concern: who else is going to share the load?

Then came the lapse. A needless challenge from Jack Milne swung the door open and Hibs barged through it. From a position of control, Aberdeen handed away the chance to close out three points that would have capped their recent upturn.

Robinson will rage at the manner of it, because managers accept being outplayed; they do not accept being undone by avoidable mistakes. Yet when the anger cools, he can still look at a side that has hardened up, that presses with purpose, and that finally looks to be laying down a platform after a torrid start.

Hibs, by contrast, head into the break with a stirring second half, a vacant manager’s office and a fanbase still asking the same old questions. The next appointment has to turn that 45-minute spark into something far more durable – or this season will drift exactly the way the first halves keep doing.