THRILLS AND SPILLS

Hoops squander two points as Hibees come oh so close to ending their unbeaten run

THE TEMPERATURE plunged to minus five at Easter Road as slow burn Hibs turned up the heat at the top of the Premiership table.

At 2pm we were heading for another Hoops championship procession – 15 minutes later, we were beginning to whisper about a possible title race worthy of the name.

Celtic moved five points clear at the top – with the additional comfort of a game in hand – as they extended their remarkable unbeaten run to 68 matches.

However, they needed a last gasp block in his six yard box from Mikael Lustig to preserve a point as Hibs threatened to come from two goals down to claim what would have been an astonishing – and undeserved – victory.

Scott Sinclair (below) pulled on a shirt the colour of raspberries and then proceeded to blow them at every one of his Champions League critics with a quickfire second half double.

But the ripple? That came from Hibs – inspired by the marvellous John Mcginn – who hit back with goals from

Efe Ambrose and Oli

Shaw to make it two draws against the

Hoops in two league games this season.

Celtic had opened the scoring on the hour, with Sinclair leaving Stephen Whittaker in his wake.

The Hoops winger set up

Odsonne Edouard to crack a shot against the inside of the post before following through unmarked to slide the loose ball into the net from eight yards.

Sinclair looked to have ended the match as a contest four minutes later when he again cut inside Whittaker on Celtic’s left and slotted home a second goal with the help of a deflection off Marvin Bartley to bounce back from an underwhelming midweek performance against Anderlecht in Europe.

Whittaker made amends of sorts on 76 minutes when his shot off a Mcginn cut-back dropped at the feet of former Celtic defender Ambrose, who knocked the ball into the net with the help of a deflection off Lustig.

Three minutes later sub Shaw spun off his marker inside the box and buried a shot off a Lewis

Stevenson pass behind Craig

Gordon.

It was a remarkable turnaround and the closing stages were breathless as a result. Dedryck Boyata could have scored a dramatic winner but he nodded over in the closing minutes from a Stuart Armstrong free-kick, before Craig Gordon’s dramatic spill at the edge of his area allowed Shaw to create a little slice of history, only for Lustig’s size 11s to get in the way.

Sinclair even had the chance to win it with the last kick of the game, but blazed over the top. HIBS made the mother of all comebacks – as Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers insisted Scott Brown is still the midfield daddy of Scottish football.

Rodgers claimed the midfield duel between his skipper and Hibs counterpart John Mcginn was “no

IT’S OL UP FOR GRABS Oli Shaw scores the equaliser for Hibs before he narrrowly missed out on a late winner