A fine away win and a clean sweep over Hibs this season. Charlie Christie made one change from the team that narrowly lost 2-1 to Celtic in midweek. Barry Wilson came into the starting eleven and Graham Bayne reverted to the bench. Craig Dargo remained sidelined and with Ross Tokely still suspended Stuart McCaffrey continued at right back.

Hibs looked the better side in the opening exchanges but Caley Thistle’s Richie Hart was first to have a realistic sight of goal. He tested Zbigniew Malkowski in the Hibs goal with a low 25 yard free kick in 12 minutes.

Derek Riordan then attacked the visitors’ goal but he shot wide and another 12-yard effort from Riordan was blocked by McCaffrey. With seven minutes of the first half remaining Ivan Sproule was denied by the feet of Mark Brown then Brown tipped over a Chris Killen header. A long Alan Morgan pass set Dennis Wyness on a run but he shot at Malkowski from 18 yards.

Half Time: 0-0

The visitors started the second half well and within a minute Malkowski pushed an Ian Black long-range shot for a corner. The pressure was rewarded in 58 minutes with the opening goal. Grant Munro was the architect when a trademark long throw from the left came back to him and he headed the ball into the heart of the box. It fell for Darren Dods and he drove it low into the net from 12 yards. This was the unified club’s 900th competitive goal.

Almost immediately Hibs came close when a Riordan corner was missed by substitute Paul Dalglish then the other substitute Steven Fletcher hit it wide. A Riordan free kick from 30 yards in 67 minutes came close but Brown tipped it over as it headed for the top corner. Malkowski saved from Wilson then, with twelve minutes left, Wilson was tripped by Gary Caldwell in the box and Mike Ritchie pointed to the penalty spot. Wilson rose to his feet, took the penalty himself and scored goal number 901.

Many Hibs fans decided it was all over and started to leave. Their team tried to salvage something but Riordan hit wide, Gary Smith went down and failed to win a penalty then a Steven Whittaker shot was pushed for a corner by Brown.

In the four minutes added time Fletcher sent in a poor shot and it trundled over for a goal kick. There was still time for a Hibs corner which was headed off target by Caldwell – it fell for Riordan then Fletcher headed over the bar.

Full Time 0-2

The afternoon was made even better for the Caley Thistle camp when the score from Pittodrie came through – Aberdeen 2 Motherwell 2. Caley Thistle thus moved back into sixth place. With two games left before the split, next week’s home game against Aberdeen will be vital.