Kilmarnock welcomed back captain Craig Bryson from injury and fellow
midfielder Jamie Hamill from suspension.
Bryson had missed the Rugby Park side's last five matches after
picking up an ankle problem in last month's Scottish Cup loss at
Rangers.
Defender Garry Hay was also able to turn out for the Ayrshire side he
won his appeal against suspension following a red card in Killie's win
at Motherwell.
It was a bright opening spell, with Hibs carving out the first
opening when Derek Riordan was presented with the chance of a shot, but
his effort was comfortably off-target.
Killie countered with Liam Kelly flashing a shot just wide from the
inside-right channel after springing the Hibs offside trap.
Hibs defender Francis Dickoh then made a terrific goal-saving tackle
on Liam Kelly inside the box but then gave the ball away to Kieran Agard,
but the Killie frontman failed to test Graham Stack.
The visitors were looking dangerous on the break and Mehdi Taouil
picked out Agard on the break, but the on-loan Everton man's effort went
wide.
Stack was the busier of the two keepers as the visitors peppered his
goal with long-range shots, but none presented serious dangerous for the
former Arsenal player.
The game had died down, but then Agard picked up the ball after
running back from what looked, certainly to the Hibs fans, an offside
position and bore down on Stack's goal.
However, despite being clean through on goal, he could only blast a
shot into the side netting.
The dominant visitors continued to press for an opening goal and
Stack had to look smart to put Mehdi Taouil's shot out for a corner
following confusion in the Hibs defence as Dickoh blasted his clearance
off Ian Murray into the path of the Moroccan.
In a rare foray up the pitch for Hibs, Sodje picked up Callum Booth's
cross at the near post, but Manuel Pascali deflected the experienced
Englishman's shot over the bar.
Kilmarnock had dominated the first half without scoring, and they
were made to pay early in the second period when Sodje outmuscled
Pascali putting himself one-on-one with substitute keeper Anssi
Jaakkola, and he made no mistake, rolling the ball into the net to claim
his first Hibernian goal.
Sodje was causing Kilmarnock problems and he split the Killie central
defence with a muscular run, but blazed his shot over.
The home side then went further ahead when Mohamadou Sissoko impeded
Derek Riordan just inside the box and referee Steve Conroy pointed to
the spot.
Icelander Victor Palsson sent Jaakkola the wrong way from the spot
scoring his first goal for Hibs.
But the drama had not ended as a challenge by Dickoh on Agard, saw a
penalty awarded at the other end and a red card for the French defender,
with Jamie Hamill converting from 12 yards.
Agard headed straight at Stack as the visitors pressed for an
equaliser, while Bryson stung the keeper's hand with a fierce drive, but
Colin Calderwood's side held firm to claim the points.
Tempers boiled over on the touchline as the game hit injury time,
with five yellow cards issued and Conroy issuing a warning to Kilmarnock
manager Mixu Paatelainen, clearly frustrated at how his side had lost
the match.
Sandy's Match Pic's are HERE
74 mins
