Danny Rogers faced up to the very real prospect of missing this fixture as the thrill of realising his international dream resulted in a travel nightmare.

On this evidence, his absence would have been sorely felt. The 20-year-old goalkeeper, doing his burgeoning reputation no harm during this loan spell from Aberdeen, turned in a virtuoso performance to keep a clean sheet and ensure Dumbarton racked up a sixth match without defeat.

Although pictures appeared to show that Dominique Malonga's penalty had squirmed across the line following his initial stop, it will go down in history as Rogers' save, and capped a fine afternoon.

Yet less than 24 hours earlier he had been stranded in an Oslo airport, having made his maiden appearance for the Republic of Ireland's Under-21 side against Norway, only to see his flight home cancelled.

"We didn't know whether he was going to get back on time," explained Dumbarton manager Ian Murray. "We only got a text last night to say that he managed to sort a flight and back to the country in time.

"He is only a young guy and we were a wee bit worried about the situation. But I said to him: 'You can win this for us'. He is certainly the man who got us a draw with the penalty save.

"His mindset had to be right. The boy had all the excuses to have a bad day at the office but he stood up to the challenge and was magnificent for us."

Hibs' sense of injustice following the penalty would have been heightened by the fact that referee Barry Cook did not deem the incident which led to the spot kick, in which defender Andy Graham fouled Malonga as he was about to fire home from six yards, to be worthy of a red card for the defender.

"It stings when the officials are 10 or 12 yards away and fans who are 60 yards away can see that it's over the line. That is the disappointing thing," said manager Alan Stubbs. "And, to be honest, it was not the only thing today."

However, the officials cannot solely shoulder the blame for a result which saw Hibs slip 14 points behind Championship leaders and city rivals Hearts.

Their own wastefulness was a recurring theme as Jason Cummings, David Gray, Paul Hanlon and McGeough all missed passable opportunities.

Man of the Match: Danny Roger

Hibernian (3-5-2): Oxley; Hanlon, Forster, Fontaine (Kennedy 59); Gray, Robertson, Craig (Allan 77), McGeough, Stevenson; Cummings, Malonga (Heffernan 69). Subs not used: Perntreou, Stanton, Handling, Booth.

Dumbarton (4-5-1): Rogers; van Zanten, Graham, Taggart, Linton; Gilhaney, Kirkpatrick, Flemming (Campbell 78), Agnew (McLaughlin 90), Megginson (MacDonald 72); Nish. Subs not used: Ewings, Mair, Murray, McDougall.