Dubious penalty denies Hibs reserves as Gathuessi walks

THIERRY GATHUESSI saw red as a controversial late penalty denied Hibs a third successive win in the SPL reserve league.

The French defender was sent packing in the fourth of more than six minutes added by referee Ross Hamill following a tussle with Celtic striker Paul McGowan with the Easter Road side leading 2-1.

Hamill's decision, which incensed the Edinburgh side who felt McGowan, with his back to goal and heading out of the danger area, made the most of Gathuessi's challenge, with Ben Hutchison, who had opened the scoring in less than two minutes, adding his second of the game to cancel out Steve Pinau's double.

If any contact was made between Gathuessi and McGowan it was minimal but certainly never a bookable offence, Hamill sending him for an early bath with the Hibs star having been one of ten players to have earlier been shown the yellow card by the official.

At least, the crime count appeared to be ten with even card-happy Hamill capping a lamentable performance by flashing yellow and then red at Hibs kid Darren McCormack following another questionable decision only to realise the defender hadn't been one of the few to have escaped his earlier attentions.

The extended period allied to Hamill's penalty decision left everyone at Almondvale mystified, not least Hibs coach Gareth Evans who entered the referee's room afterwards seeking an explanation.

Evans said: "To lose a goal in the fourth minute of injury time when there was none to be played was very disappointing, particularly to a very dubious penalty."

However, Evans admitted his side had been fortunate to reach half-time on level terms, goalkeeper Andy McNeil producing a series of terrific saves as Celtic sought to build on Hutchison's early opener before Pinau equalised seconds before the interval.

The on-loan Genoa hitman then made it five in four outings for the Edinburgh outfit's second string as he pounced on a Fabian Yantorno knockdown following good work from Jack Wilson to lash the ball beyond the helpless Mark Brown.

And Hibs appeared to have withstood a late Celtic onslaught with McNeil again excelling, particularly in blocking a powerful free-kick from Koki Mizuno and then tipping over a long-range effort from Kevin Cawley before Hamill's late, late intervention to deny them all three points.

Evans said: "We could have played a lot better in the first half. We were fortunate to be 1-1 at half-time but we defended well to stop them scoring more than one.

"I felt we were the better team for the first 20 minutes or so of the second half, but we knew Celtic would come at us and that's exactly what happened.

"I thought we had handled it when I saw the 90 minutes were up but unfortunately there were those few minutes of extra time and a dubious penalty."

Hibs: McNeil, Gathuessi, Tolmie, McCormack, Hanlon, Yantorno, Chisholm, Cropley (Wotherspoon 90), O'Brien (Wilson 46), Campbell, Pinau. Subs not used: Flynn, Moyes, Byrne.