Hibs-Aberdeen reaction: David Gray looks for catalyst, Jimmy Thelin emotional verdict, praise for unlikely hero

The Hibees required not one but two stoppage-time equalisers to earn a point at home to the Dons in one of the most topsy-turvy matches of the Premiership season so far.

Hibs took the lead on 40 minutes through Joe Newell’s deflected effort but Aberdeen rallied after the break. Jamie McGrath levelled on 56 minutes before Nicky Devlin headed in on 76 minutes. Nicky Cadden netted a spectacular free-kick two minutes into added-on time, only for Ester Sokler’s sensational bicycle kick on 95 minutes to make it 3-2. However, the scoring was not over and Rocky Bushiri bagged a priceless strike with the last action of the game.

The result relieves a little pressure from embattled Hibs boss David Gray and while Hibs remain in bottom place on nine points, they are level with city rivals Hearts and only separated by goal difference. Gray now wants his team to kick on and get a positive result against Motherwell on Saturday, taking the confidence from their dramatic comeback.

“It probably is quite hard to actually explain exactly how I'm feeling at the moment,” said Gray. “I think one thing I would say is, the atmosphere in the dressing room, the way it feels, the players need to take immense credit because of the situation we found ourselves in this season.

“One thing that I've just mentioned in reacting to the players there is, their attitude and their character was tested again immensely tonight, and they found an answer right at the very end. So from that point of view, there's a lot of positives to take from it. Then when I start to strip it back and think about the game in the whole and how it went, I think it's a game we deserve to win.

“I think you can feel that sort of energy at the end at the stadium, that we need to build on that, because when you find yourselves in the position we are, it's a point towards where we need to get to, so we need to quickly dust ourselves down, recover and look forward to Motherwell at the weekend, which will be another tough game.”

Asked if the draw and the manner of it feels like a turning point, Gray replied: "We need to use it as that, 100 per cent. But we don't just think that that's everything all right. Of course not. Again, it's a game where I believe we should have won. So we need to look at the areas in which we've let ourselves down again, of course, accountability on that front.

“But again, I want to reiterate the point of the character that the players have shown to get back into the game, and it's at least what they deserve from the game.”

Gray hailed his defender Bushiri, who netted his first goal in nearly three years at Hibs and put in an impressive performance at the back.

“I'm delighted for him personally because he's the model professional, which is someone who's not played anywhere near the amount of football he would like to have played, but he trains properly every single day. He gets frustrated because he's not playing, of course he does, but he does everything right and he's waited for his opportunity, and I'm delighted for him that he's managed to pop up and get his goal.

“He works hard as he can, he goes away on international duty, all the time doesn't play as well as much as he'd like to do on that front as well, but he's constantly available and constantly wanting to play and doing everything right so that when he does get his opportunity he's able to step in and deliver, and I'm delighted for him on a personal note for that.”

Gray’s Aberdeen counterpart Jimmy Thelin tried to remain philosophical after watching victory get snatched away from him. They missed out on the chance to rejoin Celtic at the summit and sit second on 32 points.

"It was an emotional game," said the Swede. "I think after the first half, having come back into the game, fighting back and doing some really good individual things, sometimes, like at the equaliser, there is so much emotion that you lose a little bit of concentration.

"That's football, it happens all over the world sometimes, these strange games. After you have so much emotion when you score, and it's an amazing goal, you celebrate and then it's just a kick-off and the game is over. Then this happens. That's a really tough learning point from us today. The game is not over until it's over. Of course, everybody was disappointed in the dressing room. We have to learn from this and mature as a team and try to come back."

READ MORE - Hibs and Aberdeen dish up stoppage-time classic to keep David Gray in a job on night laced in irony