Aberdeen looked to be heading clear for the checkered flag but were beaten to the finish-line by a late Hibernian counter.
Tommie Hoban’s first goal for the club in first-half stoppage-time looked to have been enough to end Hibs’ long unbeaten run, only for substitute Jamie MacLaren to crop up at the back post and grab a late equaliser.
On the balance of play it was not a goal you could begrudge the Hibees, given they had long spells in the Dons half, but Derek McInnes’s side will feel with only five minutes or so to play, they should have been able to hold on.
The Dons made one change from the 4-0 win over St Mirren, with Hoban recalled at the expense of injured Scott Wright.
James Wilson, Shay Logan and Niall McGinn all returned to make the bench.
The visitors started with a back four before promptly shifting to a three, with Dominic Ball pushing up to form a five-man midfield.
Graeme Shinnie and Gary Mackay-Steven were ostensibly wing-backs, with youngster Frank Ross given a free role behind May.
With Martin Boyle deployed alongside Oli Shaw in attack, his pace was an asset for the Hibees.
They felt aggrieved that he was not awarded a sixth-minute penalty, as Andrew Considine brought Boyle down when attempting to reach a stray ball following Joe Lewis’s parry.
Lewis was more his usual self with a superb one-handed stop to deny Daryl Horgan, as the hosts were making headway exploiting the three-man defence.
Lewis Stevenson was finding plenty space behind Mackay-Steven, with Horgan also given licence to drift from his role behind the front two.
Aberdeen spent much of the first period defending their own penalty area, as the tenacity of Horgan and Boyle forced them backwards and allowed little in the way of their own attacks.
Lewis Ferguson’s half-volley, with 32 minutes on the clock, was their first real attack of note, with Adam Bogdan beating his attempt away.
Ferguson continues to enhance his burgeoning reputation and showed no signs of hiding in a frenetic atmosphere.
He could have had a spot-kick before the break when he was bundled to the ground by Paul Hanlon but referee Andrew Dallas, who endured a sketchy afternoon, did not budge.
McInnes’s men got their break on the stroke of half-time through an unlikely source, with Hoban netting his first goal for the club as he bundled in from close range following Bogdan repelling his initial shot.
The away side reverted to a back four at the start of the second half and looked far more comfortable.
After a 15-minute period where the Dons were in the ascendancy, they reverted to sitting deep again and allowing Hibernian the ball.
Lennon’s side continually looked to Horgan to dig them out of a hole but the Dons appeared to have sussed out that gameplan, manning him up against two or three defenders in a bid to deny him space.
Whenever they did manage to find a slight bit of room around the area, they were quickly shut down by multiple bodies as McInnes bedded in to try see out the game.
However, Aberdeen were punished for some slack marking with just four minutes to go as MacLaren was left unattended at the back post, meeting Hanlon’s cutback gleefully to secure the home side a point at a rapturous Easter Road.
Hibernian (3-4-1-2) – Bogdan 6; Ambrose 6, Porteous 6, Hanlon 6, Gray 6 (Hyndman 83), Whittaker 6, Mallan 6, Stevenson 6 (MacLaren 75), Horgan 7, Boyle 7, Shaw 5. Subs not used – Laidlaw, Slivka, Swanson, Agyepong, Mackie.
Aberdeen (3-5-1-1) – Lewis 7; Devlin 6, Hoban 7, Considine 6, Mackay-Steven 6, Ball 7, Ferguson 7, Gleeson 7 (Logan 60), Shinnie 7, Ross 6 (Wilson 73), May 6. Subs not used – Cerny, Forrester, McGinn, Cosgrove, Anderson.
Referee – Andrew Dallas 5.
Attendance – 18,535.
Man of the match – Daryl Horgan.
