Hibs manager Butcher content with Hibs’ form

Hibs manager Terry Butcher. Picture: SNS

While the point brought the Edinburgh club level with St Johnstone in sixth place, Butcher’s men passed up a great opportunity to get themselves into the top six of the Scottish Premiership for the first time this season.

Over the 90 minutes Hibs had the bulk of possession and the chances but had to come from behind after a terrific opener from Kilmarnock, when Ryan McKenzie clinically finished off a superb defence splitting pass from Kris Boyd.

But after Danny Haynes stooped to head home a cross from the very impressive Sam Stanton early in the second half, the Easter Road side had several opportunities to take all three points.

Indeed, after netting his first goal for the club, Haynes might have grabbed the winner five minutes from time but a crucial block from Manuel Pascali inside his six yard box denied the on loan striker.

That left Butcher with mixed feelings, saying: “Overall I’m really pleased with the way we played - and we have certainly played poorer and won.

“I am disappointed we didn’t win the game but I was delighted with the way we played.

“After we got the equaliser I thought we would go on and win. I said to the players at half-time that if we got one goal we would get more and I thought we might right up until the end.

“The players thought it was two points dropped and although we got a point nearer to St Johnstone we could have been above them and back in the top six.”

The Easter Road boss was also delighted to see Haynes, on loan from Notts County, get on the scoresheet and the striker echoed his manager’s sentiments as he reflected on the game.

“On a personal note it was nice to get my first goal but it was frustrating not to win,” he said.

“Although we were happy with our performance, Kilmarnock had only one shot at goal and it really was two points dropped.

“They were on the back foot for most of the second half but we didn’t make most of our opportunities.”

For his part Kilmarnock manager Alan Johnston thought a draw was a fair result, although he was disappointed his side could not build on their opener.

“It was a bit disappointing as you are looking to win your home games, especially after taking the lead,” Johnston said.

“I thought we were the better team in the first half and passed the ball well on a difficult pitch. We scored a really good goal.

“For the first 15 minutes of the second half we didn’t start well and Hibs probably deserved their goal. After that we came back into it but a draw was a probably a fair result.”