Miller time

The nine men of Aberdeen fell to a two goal defeat at Easter Road this afternoon. Maurice Ross, making his debut for the visitors, and Chris Maguire, were sent from the field before a Colin Nish header and a deflected strike from Liam Miller gave Hibs the points.

Hibs had struggled to create against a stubborn Aberdeen defence after the visitors went down to nine, and it took a swift counter attack to break the deadlock. Goalkeeper Stack's quick throw found Kurtis Byrne, and Colin Nish was perfectly placed to power the Irishman's cross past Langfield in the Aberdeen goal. Miller made the points safe five minutes later, as his deflected strike found its way to goal, adding a flattering sheen to the score in favour of the Easter Road side.

Referee Steven Nicholls provided the main talking points of the match. Ross was red-carded for a second bookable offence after catching Ian Murray as the Hibs man attempted to clear, before Maguire was shown a straight red card for stamping on the foot of Hibs' Kevin McBride. The Aberdeen man had earlier been shown a yellow card, on a day he will want to forget.

Hibs, rather than pushing on in the way that they did at Ibrox last Saturday, failed to take advantage of their numerical advantage straight away. Nish somehow missed from six yards after Wotherspoon had put the ball on a plate for him, and such profligacy almost came back to haunt the life-long Hibee.

Gary McDonald's long-range strike forced Stack into a save at the other end, with Considine coming excruciatingly close to giving Aberdeen the lead from the resultant corner. Riordan and Stokes then tested Langfield, before Aberdeen's 16 year-old forward, Fraser Fyvie, was carried from the field following a crunching challenge from Hibs' Ian Murray.

Easter Road was in raptures soon after, as Nish broke the deadlock. The big forward received a booking for his over-zealous celebration, revealing the wonderful mix of relief and sheer joy flowing from all those in green and white. A nervous few minutes followed, as the Easter Road faithful crossed anything and everything in sight, before Liam Miller’s strike ensured that all three points would stay at Easter Road.

The victory sends John Hughes’ men second in the SPL, eleven points clear of Hearts heading into next Saturday’s derby match at Tynecastle. Hibs are giving their fans a lot to shout about this season, as they finally seem to have got their heads around the concept of “winning ugly”: whether or not they can maintain their early season form is the question on the lips of the green half of Edinburgh.