Tuesday September 15th 2026
Hibs fans did not hang around to applaud the players off the pitch.
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Ewan Hornell
George Stanger’s putback from a Raphael Sallinger spill ended Killie’s 12 year wait for a win at Easter Road as Hibs equalled an unwelcome record, untouched for over a hundred years, of sixth consecutive league losses at home. Pressure once more mounts on David Gray as his side sit 9th in the table on the brink of the international break.
Last weekend’s comfortable 3-0 victory over Ross County, secured a League Cup Semi-Final spot and somewhat quietened questions around the security of David Gray’s status as Hibs manager.
However, a loss to bottom of the table Kilmarnock would just as easily reignite that fire – tenfold.
With the international break looming and Gray’s position uncertain, nothing other than a win would do if Hibs and Gray were to win back the supporters belief and regain their own sense of identity broken in defeats to Hearts, Gent and St Johnstone.
Hibs’ fluctuation between a back four and three has been well documented. An early injury to Kanayo Megwa and subsequent switch to a back three seemed to be significant in Hibs struggling to find any purpose in their first half play.
On the ball they were lethargic, their passing either speculative or misjudged. A 45 minutes devoid of any attacking imagination and impetus.
For Kilmarnock they looked to counter Hibs at pace and exploit gaps left out wide between Hibs’ central defenders and wing backs.
On a number of occasions Bailey Rice turned on the ball and without hesitation played a diagonal pass behind Iredale and Mayor, into space, down Hibs’ left hand side.
Michael Schjonning-Larsen and Kilmarnock provided a scare on the Hibs goal in the 27th minute.
The Estonian flashed a ball across the Hibs goal, only just out of reach of the sliding Tyreece John-Jules – the slightest of touches goalwards would have seen a certain Killie goal.
As those in Hibs shirts grew more and more uncertain of one another, Kilmarnock continued to impose themselves on the ball and were rewarded with a goal just before the break.
A half cross, half shot was fired at the Hibs goal – bouncing directly in front of Raphael Sallinger. The Austrian, caught unaware, parried the ball directly back into the heart of the box, were George Stanger was on hand to stab the ball home and put Kilmarnock ahead.
Sallingers error perfectly encapsulating a miserable first half for David Gray’s men.
A positive response was desperately if Hibs were to find a way back into the match and keep the Easter Road crowd from bursting.
None came.
Gray turned to Owen Elding, Martin Boyle and Nathan Lowe from the bench in desperate search of any attacking life but to no avail.
If anything it was Kilmarnock who could have had more goals.
Kilmarnock pushed on, looking to double their lead and they thought they had before Joe Hugills sliding effort was ruled out for offside, after a VAR check.
Before Killie’s second was overturned, some of the Hibs faithful had begun to make their way towards the exit and when the decision was reversed and the score remained 1-0 some returned – but not all.
A indicator, perhaps, of a fanbase disillusioned with their side?
Joe Hugill and Greg Kiltie were both electric all evening for Kilmarnock. Their dynamic, combination linkup provided nightmares for Grant Hanley all evening.
Tonight was a strong pointer as to why his time as a Scotland internationalist seems to be over, after not making Sebastien Pocognoli’s first Scotland squad. Hanley really struggled to handle Hugill and Kilties pace and physicality, as they ran him ragged.
However, both will feel they probably should have scored, as the pair only found Raphael Sallingers body despite being one on one with the goalkeeper.
A late red card shown to Djenairo Daniels, the Killie Substitute, for a second yellow card made no difference as Kilmarnock deservedly came with all three points.
For Hibs full time was met with a chorus of boos as they slump to 9th in the table and lose their 6th league home game for the first time in over 100 years.
Here is what David Gray had to say about the result and his sides performance:
‘I could make excuses and say we were really stretched, chasing the game and doing everything to get back into the game but the reality of the situation is for the amount of ball we had and opportunities we got, it wasn’t good enough.
‘This is a difficult time for everybody at the football club because we’ve lost again tonight, off the back of a good result at the weekend and failed to back it up again.
‘I believe in the group. I think it’s a good group and I think we can turn it around.
‘I think its testing everybody at this moment of time and it’ll continue to do that until we turn it around.
‘The answer is doing everything you possibly can to give yourself the best chance to put it right.’
Pressure has never been higher for David Gray as Hibs welcome Aberdeen on Saturday in the final game before the international break.
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