Russell Latapy saved Hibernian's blushes with an 82nd-minute equaliser just a minute after Greg Strong had given Motherwell the lead as a stale Scottish Premier League encounter belatedly exploded into life.

Champions League-chasing Hibs started the game as strong favourites but their visitors from Lanarkshire proved troublesome.

Both sides went into the match missing key players, with Motherwell having to rejig their starting 11 due to a number of injuries and the sale of Lee McCulloch and Stephen McMillan to Wigan.

Hibs themselves were minus inspirational skipper Franck Sauzee, who had to limp off in last Sunday's 1-1 draw at Celtic.

Ian Murray took his place and Hibs won a fourth-minute free-kick in what would have been ideal Sauzee shooting territory.

Fellow Frenchman David Zitelli is also a useful good dead-ball man and his 20-yard shot was well taken by former Hibs goalkeeper Andy Goram.

Despite the makeshift look of the Motherwell side they took the game to third-placed Hibs with great effect and Derek Adams had the ball in the net after seven minutes, but Kenny Clark had blown quickly for an infringement.

John Spencer was playing his last game for the Lanarkshire side before heading off to the United States to play for Colorado Rapids.

The little striker was threatening to go out in style when on 14 minutes he latched on to a long ball from defence, with only great defending by Paul Fenwick denying him as the Canadian showed some ice cool cleaning up.

Hibs have had a great season and are still fiercely contesting Rangers for the second Champions League place, yet Motherwell were making their task hard.

Motherwell were looking dangerous and on 22 minutes 6ft 5in Derek Townsley sent a perfect header inches past Nick Colgan's post after Kevin Twaddle's well-taken corner.

Then Adams cut the ball back for Dougie Ramsey but the shot was well blocked by Fenwick as the visitors continued to cause menace.

Hibs were struggling to keep their composure and on the half-hour mark Mathias Jack sent a lazy 30-yard pass back towards keeper Colgan. Adams raced in to pressurise the keeper, who did well to boot the ball to safety.

The hosts then conceded a free-kick in a dangerous position with Colgan again saving his side as he comfortably held Twaddle's shot.

Hibs had offered very little in an attacking sense up until now and on 37 minutes Latapy worked some space for himself but shot well wide from 20 yards.

As half-time approached Motherwell were unlucky not to go in ahead when firstly on 42 minutes Townsley met Twaddle's corner with a towering header. Hibs defender Gary Smith cleared the danger with Spencer ready to pounce at the back post.

Townsley was then guilty of an unbelievable miss just a minute later when he rounded Colgan but then completely mishit his shot when a goal seemed certain.

The second half was slightly late in starting as engineers worked hard to correct a fault with the temporary lighting.

Hibs were keen to improve on a disappointing first-half performance which was completely uncharacteristic of the form they had show throughout this season.

Boss Alex McLeish replaced Finnish striker Mixu Paatelainen for Frenchman Marc Libbra.

The striker had become an instant hero to the Hibs supporters after grabbing a late equaliser at Celtic last Sunday after coming on as a substitute.

The change seemed to bring more life to the home side's play and on 57 minutes Latapy made a surging run forward which threatened to create something.

The ball broke out to Zitelli on the left of the box from where his well-hit shot was smothered by Goram.

Motherwell boss Billy Davies made a double substitution on 61 minutes with Ramsey and Spencer being replaced by Don Goodman and Northern Ireland international Stuart Elliott.

The game was certainly more even now, in contrast to the first half when Motherwell certainly had much more of the play.

Hibs began to produce more of a threat up front and they enjoyed their best spell with 15 minutes to go.

Substitutes Libbra and Tom McManus linked up well, with the former player's shot being blocked by Motherwell striker Adams.

Again Hibs pressed and they won two corners in quick succession, with Grant Brebner and Ian Murray having shots charged down in good positions.

With nine minutes left Motherwell won a corner on the right and again Twaddle sent in an excellent delivery.

Hibs' defence attempted to clear but the ball fell kindly for Well centre-half Strong, who controlled it with his thigh before spinning to volley a crisp shot into Colgan's bottom-right corner.

Yet the lead lasted only a minute when after a scramble at the other end Latapy smashed home from eight yards to deny the visitors a shock victory.

Teams:

Hibernian: Colgan, Gary Smith, Murray, Fenwick, Lovell, O'Neil, Jack (Brebner 66), Latapy, Laursen, Paatelainen (Libbra 56), Zitelli (McManus 74).

Subs Not Used: Franks, Lehmann.

Booked: Libbra.

Goals: Latapy 82.

Motherwell: Goram, Corrigan, Leitch, Strong, Hammell, Townsley, Lasley (Pearson 79), Ramsey (Goodman 61), Twaddle, Spencer (Elliott 61), Adams.

Subs Not Used: Woods, McFadden.

Booked: Corrigan, Townsley, Adams, Elliott, Strong.

Goals: Strong 81.

Att: 8,423

Ref: K Clark (Scotland).