Inverness boss John Hughes hails substitutes Lewis Horner and Mbuyi-Mutombo
Alan Stubbs claims Hibernian are back on track despite conceding a late equaliser to holders Inverness in the William Hill Scottish Cup.
Alan Stubbs claims Hibernian are back on track despite conceding a late equaliser to holders Inverness in the William Hill Scottish Cup.
Hibs made a shaky start to the quarter-final following three consecutive defeats but gradually got on top in a keenly-contested encounter at Easter Road.
James Keatings swept home the opener following a good move in the 54th minute and Hibs looked comfortable until Inverness substitute Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo fired into the roof of the net with 13 minutes left to seal a 1-1 draw and with it a March 16 replay.
Hibs had seen their Championship title challenge crumble with losses against Morton, Dumbarton and Queen of the South but they held off some late pressure to stop the rot ahead of next Sunday's Scottish League Cup final against Ross County at Hampden.
We're back on track,'' said head coach Stubbs, who felt his team shaded the game.Simple as that. A week's a long time in football.
I've heard criticism. It's nice that my players have responded. We've had a bad week but when you've got quality you don't have lots of bad weeks.''
Hibs may have to go into the cup final without Dylan McGeouch, who broke down injured in the first half.
It's frustrating for us because he's an important player for us,'' Stubbs said.
He felt problems on one side and now it's the other. We cleared up the left and he felt the right.
We'll need to see how it is over the next day or so and try and get him back as soon as possible.''
Inverness boss John Hughes hailed substitutes Lewis Horner and Mbuyi-Mutombo after they linked up to provide the leveller four minutes after coming on.
Hughes switched from a 3-5-2 formation to bring right-back Horner on and play the goalscorer just behind the front two, and the tactical shift worked immediately.
Former Hibs player Horner did brilliantly to get the ball into the box and Jordan Roberts laid off for Mbuyi-Mutombo to fire high into the net.
I had to change the shape a little bit and we're grateful that we got the substitutions right,'' Hughes said.
Mutombo and Horner came on and linked up and it was a great finish from Mutombo. And after that there was only going to be one winner.
I felt we got strong after that, it galvanised us and, if we were going to lose it, we would have lost it trying to win it.''
On the goalscorer, Hughes added: He was touch-and-go whether he was going to be on the bench, he has had a wee calf problem. That's fate, it worked out.
From the start I was asking him to analyse the game because we were picking up wee areas we felt we could be effective.
So I'm absolutely delighted for him but also Horner. Horner has done well for us and because of the shape we played he found himself sitting on the bench.
But he came on and proved to us that he can hold his own in the team. So I'm really pleased for him.''