Inverness 4-2 Hibs: Nish vows to banish heartache in Highlands

The Easter Road outfit lost out yet again at the Caledonian Stadium thanks to an Adam Rooney hat-trick and an early opener from Richie Foran.

Hibs twice hit back to give themselves a glimmer of hope but both times allowed Inverness to edge further in front within the matter of a few minutes.

First, Derek Riordan brought the scoreline back to 2-1 and then Liam Miller hit a penalty to make it 3-2 but Caley striker Rooney made sure of the spoils by hitting the final of his treble in the last ten minutes.

To make matters worse for the Edinburgh side, they had to play out the final 40 minutes of the match with just ten men on the park after Paul Hanlon - who had only been brought on at half-time to replace Michael Hart - was shown a straight red card.

Nish admitted the result had dealt his side a huge blow but stressed that they have the confidence and quality within their squad to make sure they can get back to winning ways against St Johnstone next Saturday.

The big striker, who was back in the starting line-up after injury, said: "It was hugely disappointing. I thought that we were doing okay until they scored their first goal and I thought that we should still have taken something from the game, even though we were down to ten men.

"Every time we got to within a goal of them, they seemed to go straight back up the park and score again. It is difficult when you've had someone sent off and you're having to defend but these things happen and it's just your luck sometimes.

"I don't think that there was too much difference in the way we have played in the last couple of games, it was just that the team we came up against on Saturday took their chances when they came along.

"We've got to make sure that we kick on again next weekend. The boys have done well in the last couple of weeks. Yes we lost 4-2 to Inverness, but we got beat with ten men for half the game and still could have taken something from the game.

"I think we can take confidence from that and use that when we play St Johnstone next Saturday."

There were only seven minutes on the clock when Richie Foran opened the scoring for Caley but it was Rooney who cause all of the problems. The Inverness hitman twisted and turned inside the box before turning the ball into the path of team-mate Foran who curled a clever effort just out of Mark Brown's reach and into the back of the net.

A long-range effort from John Rankin that fizzed across the face of goal and a yard wide of keeper Ryan Esson's left-hand post was the closest Hibs came to levelling matters in the minutes that followed, although Hart carved out a half chance by feeding Liam Miller on the right and the Irishman was unlucky to see his hopeful cross tipped onto the bar by the keeper.

Hibs pushed forward again in search of the equaliser when Riordan and Edwin de Graaf combined well on the edge of the box, only for the Dutchman's final touch to send the ball past the post.

Mark Brown was forced into a cracking save to keep the deficit at just one goal when Russell Duncan's ball into the box found Foran. He sent the ball goalward and on its way it was met by the head of Nick Ross who looked certain to make it two only for the Hibs keeper to get down to his left like lightning to tip it round the post.

Caley could have made it two just before the break when Jonny Hayes produced a brilliant angled cross for Rooney and his downward header looked a goal all the way, only for it to bounce back up off the turf and onto the crossbar.

Hibs made changes at the break, bringing on Hanlon and Danny Galbraith for Hart and De Graaf but the young defender's appearance wasn't to last longer than a few minutes.

Hanlon was sent off just five minutes after the break, the Hibs sub being shown a straight red card for preventing a Rooney effort from going in with a clear handball right on the goal-line.

Hanlon was already heading for the tunnel when Steve Conroy brought the card out of his top pocket and Rooney himself converted the penalty with a well-struck right-foot shot.

Hibs refused to give in though and pulled one back in 66 minutes when a shocker of a pass from Hayes played Riordan straight through on the Caley goal and the striker showed all of his experience to take the ball wide of Esson before slotting into the empty net.

However the away fans began to head for the exits with 20 minutes still remaining as Caley made it three. The Inverness goal came from a great chance for Hibs, with Nish, Galbraith and John Rankin all missing the fact that Riordan was in acres of space on the left of the box. Rankin's attempt at a shot was defelected and fell to Hayes, who raced almost the entire length of the park before crossing for Rooney and he wasted no time in rifling the ball low into the net at Brown's near post.

Hibs gave themselves a lifeline with 13 minutes left when Galbraith was brought down by Ross Tokely inside the box and Miller sent the ball high into the net, almost at the postage stamp corner. However, yet again, they allowed Thistle to hit back almost immediately, Hayes sliding the ball into the path of Rooney, who beat Bamba all ends up for pace before firing confidently home to complete his hat-trick.

There was no way back and the result means Hibs have still to record a victory over Caley on their home turf since they were promoted to the SPL in season 2004/05 - the Highland hoodoo continues.