Derek McInnes admitted Aberdeen almost paid the price for his substitution confusion towards the end of their battling win in the capital.
Lewis Ferguson’s first-half penalty after Martin Boyle was caught cold in his own box gave the Dons a deserved three points and left their league position looking much healthier as a result.
The Dons dominated from the half-hour mark onwards, and weren’t overly threatened by Hibs in the second half.
But McInnes explained that he forgot he had more subs left than he actually thought, which meant his weary warriors had to power through as he hoped his cock-up didn’t prove costly.
McInnes said: “I was kicking myself, I made a hash of it there, I should have got fresh legs on.
“When I made my third sub, I should have made more subs.
“I had freshness behind me and my players were running on empty, boys were cramping up. I got away with that one.
“It’s a wee reminder to me that you need to use the five subs thing properly. For whatever reason I thought I’d made a double sub and I still had one stoppage left.
“My players needed help and I recognised that and wasn’t able to help them.
“I got away with it because my team were good enough and had big hearts and kept Hibs’ threat to a minimum.
“When you come to Easter Road with the danger players they have got, to be as comfortable as we were on the back of a tough period for us and players running on empty, I have got to be pleased with that clean sheet.”
“There was a 15 to 20-minute spell when we could have got that second goal.
“Watkins is a drifter, he moves brilliantly. Hedges and Wright were effective cutting in. It’s difficult to deal with that speed, and with Hayes and Kennedy offering that width and threat on the sides.
“When it works, and it will work this season at times, it can be all singing and all dancing.
“Today it wasn’t quite like that because we are up against a good team and it was a bit scruffy and I thought we were a bit fatigued with some of our decision-making second half.”
