IT was more a case of wintry showers than sunshine on Leith, but a dour day in Auld Reekie was illuminated by a thoroughly captivating tussle full of incident and intrigue.

Jason Cummings, who avoided a one-match ban after claims that he made an offensive gesture in the Edinburgh derby last weekend were "not proven", proved a point with a first-half hat-trick that had Hibernian coasting at 3-1. Falkirk, meanwhile, earned a praiseworthy point with a spirited salvage operation. They may have felt they deserved more. With the matched poised at 1-1 midway through the opening period, John Baird chested a Rory Loy flick on into the net to seemingly put the Bairns 2-1 up. The celebrations were completed and Hibernian were just about to restart when Willie Collum and his assistant, Lorraine Clark, had a close-quarters chinwag and decided to disallow the goal for offside. Cue a furious, finger-wagging post-match rant from Falkirk manager, Peter Houston? Not quite. "Between them they got it right," he admitted. "She's had a word in his ear and says Baird has touched it. Fair play to her." Managers praising officials? It'll never catch on.

The hosts began with plenty of purpose, and, in the second minute, Liam Craig came bounding on to a Lewis Stevenson cross only to trundle a good opportunity wide of the post. Hibernian were full of forward momentum and it was no surprise when they forged ahead in the 12th minute as Cummings curled a left-footed effort past Jamie MacDonald, despite the Falkirk keeper getting a strong hand on the floating ball.

Falkirk were struggling to gain a foothold in the game, but they were handed a reprieve from their defensive toil just six minutes after falling behind. From Kieran Duffie's deep cross, John Baird nipped into the yawning gap between the two Hibs defenders and nodded a delightful header into the far corner.

Seven minutes later that Falkirk 'goal' was chalked off. Hibernian capitalised on their good fortune and hit their gutted guests with a devastating double whammy just before the interval. On 39 minutes, Liam Fontaine headed a corner into the danger zone and Cummings stuck out a boot to divert the ball into the net. Two minutes later, Martin Boyle latched on to a raking pass from Scott Allan, rounded MacDonald and whipped over a cross which Cummings headed into the exposed goal.

Hibs should have extended that advantage five minutes after the resumption, but Boyle, with an open goal in front of him, rolled his attempt wide. It would prove to be a crucial moment. "We could have been dead and buried there," noted Houston. As it turned out, they would be alive and kicking. Peter Grant pounced on some defensive dithering and his prod was deflected into his own net by Craig near the hour. In the 64th minute, more ropey rearguard action allowed Falkirk to restore parity. A Mark Kerr free-kick managed to evade a series of defenders and Grant was on hand to score.

The match would roar to a finale. Mark Oxley denied Craig Sibbald with a fine save, while Hibs debutant Franck Dja Djede fluffed his lines by sending a free header over. In the last knockings, Blair Alston almost nicked it for Falkirk, but Oxley tipped his rasping drive over the bar. "It feels like a defeat to be honest," added Hibernian manager, Alan Stubbs. "We missed a chance to make it four and that was the defining moment."