Hibernian needed only the opening spell of their Scottish Premiership meeting with Celtic at Easter Road to seize the moment, and Owen Elding gave them the lead with a brilliant finish. Celtic did not wait long to answer. Within the first six minutes, Jason Kerr headed a corner into his own net and the match had already swung back to level.
The strike that put Hibernian ahead was the kind that changes the mood of a ground. Elding finished across the goalkeeper after the brightness and cuteness of the free-kick, and Pat Bonner could hardly hide his admiration, saying it was a finish across the keeper beautifully and that Johnstone had no chance. He also said the move owed everything to the cleverness of the free-kick and that Dane Murray had been caught watching the ball.
That early burst mattered because it set the terms before either side had settled. Brian McLauchlin pointed to the atmosphere around Easter Road as well, noting lots of empty seats in the Pat Stanton stand and a big gap behind the goals in the Famous Five stand, with the block seven group currently banned by the club. The crowd was watching a match that had already turned into a test of nerve rather than a cautious opening.
The response from Celtic carried its own awkwardness. A corner to the back post was headed by Kerr into his own net, a quick equaliser that came less through sustained pressure than through a defensive lapse at the worst possible moment. Chris Sutton called it schoolboy stuff from Celtic, while also crediting Hibernian for excellent thinking and praising Elding’s finishing. The sequence gave both teams a goal before the game had even found a rhythm, and it made the early minutes feel decisive long before the final result was known.
There was still more to come, with Callum McGregor’s deflected effort later forcing Raphael Sallinger into a sharp save, but the opening exchange already told the story of the night. Hibernian had the first punch. Celtic hit back almost at once. What followed in the rest of the match would have to live up to a start that had already produced a brilliant goal, an own goal and a lot of noise around Easter Road.
