Hibs led 2-0 going into the final 17 minutes of the game after efforts from Elie Youan and Jair Tavares appeared to have us on course for three points - only for an Allan
Delferrière own goal and a fine finish from Jordan White to allow County back into it.
Nick Montgomery made four changes to the side that held Celtic three days prior with goalkeeper Jojo Wollacott coming in for his first league start.
Dylan Levitt and Adam Le Fondre returned to the starting XI as did skipper for the evening, Lewis Stevenson.
David Marshall, Jordan Obita, Joe Newell and Martin Boyle all dropped down the to the bench where they were joined by youngsters Rory Whittaker and Josh Landers.
The match started slowly but after an uneventful opening ten minutes, Youan got the better of Ben Purrington before whipping a low cross that appeared set to be tapped home by Dylan Vente - only for James Brown to slide in and divert it wide for a corner kick.
Malky Mackay’s side were sitting deep and looking to hit Hibs on the counterattack which they do to good effect, and it almost paid off when a long ball forward was nodded down by Simon Murray to Scott Allardice, only for him to hook his effort wide of the target.
Jair had again looked to impress and made a lively start to the game; he had several good touches to create space that ended with County players tripping him as he looked to push forward with the ball.
The Portuguese then latched onto a Youan cut back that was unfortunately deflected to allow Ross Laidlaw to save.
At the other end, County should have made more of an opportunity in the 25th minute that saw Brown latch onto a perfectly weighted lay-off from Murray, but his close range shot across the face of goal was wide of the far post.
When we were moving the ball quickly, spaces were being created in the final third and Le Fondre almost profited from one when his snapshot from 16 yards had the beating of Laidlaw only to flash just wide.
The deadlock was broken just before half time when Youan’s shot from 20 yards took a wicked deflection off Purrington to wrong foot Laidlaw and find the back of the net.
It was the 24-year-old Frenchman’s seventh goal of the campaign so far and he is now just two goals short of his total for last season.
The goal would certainly have changed the half-time team talk for both managers as we took a narrow lead with us into the break.
We took a lift from that goal into the second half and started on the front foot pushing the County defence back, particularly down the flanks.
It didn’t take us long to double our lead as Levitt fed a wonderful ball up the line that Brown slide in to meet but missed - allowing Jair to race away before unleashing a stunning right foot shot into the top corner that left Laidlaw with no chance.
It was the Portuguese attacker’s first goal for the Club and a timely confidence boost even though his heart must have been in his mouth when there was a VAR check for offside before the goal was eventually confirmed.
Two minutes later we nearly added a third in bizarre circumstances after Lewis Miller’s shot from the edge of the box looped high into the air, over Laidlaw and fortuitously into the side netting from County’s perspective.
County went close to pulling a goal back when former Hibee, Murray, rose to glance a Yan Dhanda free kick just wide of the far post.
County had made a host of changes to try and force a way back into the game and they did so soon after when another dangerous cross from Dhanda was turned into his own net by the unfortunate Delferrière.
Having appeared comfortable until then, we now looked nervy as County took full advantage with substitute White latching onto a Murray cross to spin and smash it high into our net and level the game.
The Highlanders could have won it with a minute left when Dhanda’s free-kick was headed goalward by White and pushed around the post by Wollacott with the goalkeeper pulling off another terrific save to tip the same striker’s header over the crossbar from the resultant corner kick.
Hibernian: Wollacott, Miller, Fish, Levitt (Newell 83’), Youan, Vente (Boyle 63’), Jeggo (Delferrière 68’), Stevenson, Le Fondre (Campbell 83’), Jair, Rocky (Hanlon 63’). Substitutes not used: Marshall, Obita, Whittaker, Landers.
Ross County: Laidlaw, Randall (Samuel 72’), Purrington (Harmon 72’), Brown, Baldwin, Allardice, Turner (Dhanda 63’), Loturi, Murray (Nightingale 86’), Brophy (White 72’), Leak. Substitutes not used: Munro, Sheaf, High, Smith.
Referee: Grant Irvine.
Attendance: 15,300.
