More woe for Jimmy Thelin as Aberdeen slip up at Hibernian

Hibernian and Aberdeen’s flip of fortunes was further cemented by a 2-0 victory for the home side at Easter Road.

Nectarios Triantis and Nicky Cadden headed home in each half as Hibs moved up to fifth place in the William Hill Premiership and two points off their visitors.

Aberdeen plugged away but could not find a way past Jordan Smith as they went a 14th league game without a win.

After taking 31 points from his opening 11 Premiership matches, Dons manager Jimmy Thelin has only managed to collect four from the next 14.

The run without a win would not have even hit two had then bottom Hibs not equalised twice in stoppage-time when Aberdeen last visited Leith on November 26.

David Gray was the manager under pressure at that point with the late goals averting a third consecutive defeat. After going nine games without a win, Hibs have never looked back from that late drama, winning at Motherwell four days later and only losing to Celtic since.

Aberdeen fans would have travelled in hope that a similar reversal of fortunes could be sparked at the same venue and their side played the ball around well enough in the opening stages with Leighton Clarkson getting the first shot on target.

The Dons showed plenty of fight as Nicky Devlin and then Topi Keskinen threw themselves at shots from Martin Boyle and Cadden.

But Hibs were in front from the resulting 24th-minute corner from Boyle. Josh Campbell headed the delivery across the six-yard box and Triantis scored with a diving header.

Hibs doubled their lead three minutes after the break when Chris Cadden crossed for twin brother Nicky to head in off the bar. The goal was initially ruled out for offside before a VAR check reversed the decision.

Aberdeen thought they had a lifeline when Don Robertson was called to the monitor to review a potential handball from Rocky Bushiri, the man whose goal earned Hibs a 3-3 draw in the teams’ last meeting. This time the defender would be a bit-part player as the referee decided there was not enough in the incident to award a penalty.

Boyle had a chance to finish Aberdeen off when Kieron Bowie played him through but Ross Doohan blocked from the Australia international.

Thelin threw on attacking players in a bid to stem the tide and some of his substitutes had chances. But former Hibs striker Kevin Nisbet shot well over from 10 yards and Smith saved from Jack MacKenzie, Peter Ambrose and Duk.

Gray’s name rang around Easter Road towards the end before the Dons players got a mixed reception from the fans who saw out the full nine minutes of stoppage-time.