49 mins
Kilmarnock gave youth a chance, with Willie Gibson, Ryan O'Leary and Jamie Hamill all getting the chance to start at Easter Road.
Alan Combe may well feature in a bloopers compilation DVD for his bizarre contribution at Aberdeen last week but here you could have cut together his outstanding saves and his unerring positioning as a tutorial for young goalkeeping aspirants. He even provided the assist for the only goal of the game.
In the second half Hibs had up to four men up front, they had all of the play, indeed their dominance of the game almost amounted to sadism, they created a bundle of opportunities, only for Combe to twist, touch and soar in defiance.
The Kilmarnock rearguard was resilient, Gordon Greer was particularly staunch, batting away crosses and shots, but Hibs' attackers repeatedly created openings, only to be foiled.
You can forget the pre-match tosh about Kilmarnock wanting to gain revenge for their cup final humbling - a victory in a meaningless game, far less a crunch one, is never going to do that - but they were determined, well-organised and with a last resort who was intent on redemption.
Boss Jim Jefferies was clearly mindful of that cup drubbing, electing for a line-up which could not have been more defensively intended had steel spikes and a moat been involved. He had four at the back, with James Fowler dropping back from the holding position to assist when under attack, Steven Naismith on the right of the midfield four, or five with Fowler, and just Colin Nish up front. Hibs were in attacking disposition (when are they not?) with a back three and five in the middle, two up front.
Inevitably, given the invitation, Hibs did most of the attacking in the first half and had it not been for Combe they would have gone in handsomely ahead. The big goalkeeper had obviously spent most of the preceding week in the sun, or perhaps it was the result of the burning embarrassment over the blooper at Aberdeen.
Hibs did all of the early pressing but their neat passing moves broke down when they reached the opposition penalty box.
Abdessalam Benjelloun did fashion a shot from 14 yards on 18 minutes and Combe got down smartly to keep the ball out.
The visitors replied with a strong run from Steven Naismith and his fierce long range strike was tipped over the crossbar by McNeil.
Hibs skipper Jones found some room in a crowded penalty area but his powerful header from Murphy's corner flew straight at Combe.
Hibs midfielder Dean Shiels then burst through but saw his effort blocked by Combe and Kille enjoyed a huge slice of fortune when Wright's wild clearance came back off a post.
The ball fell to Shiels again but Combe recovered to deny the Northern Irishman for a second time.
Kilmarnock almost snatched the lead in the final minute of the first half when Gibson played a great one-two with Nish but the sprawling McNeil made a fine block.
The
visitors did go in front soon after the restart when
Jones misjudged a long punt and Colin Nish ran on to head
the bouncing ball over the stranded McNeil.
With Kilmarnock packing men behind the ball, Hibs were struggling to create any openings
However, the lively Shiels managed to squeeze in two decent shot that were well saved by Combe.
The keeper then denied Chris Hogg with a fantastic stop after the Hibs defender had won a header from Merouane Zemmama's corner.
The Hibs substitute was then busy on his own goal-line, making a great clearance after a deflected shot had deceived McNeil.
Jones almost gifted Killie a second when he fluffed a clearance straight to Gary Wales but Zemmama cleared his deflected effort off the line. Hibs stepped up their search for an equaliser but James Fowler blocked brilliantly from Shiels from close range and Fletcher's 25-yard chip just cleared the back post.
And Combe saved from Sproule in injury
time with the Northern Irishman clean through before
Fletcher skied the rebound.
Hibs tendency to
over-elaborate saw the Ayrshire team hang on and
move back up to fifth in the table.
