County scored direct from a corner kick with 17 minutes remaining and despite it appearing goalkeeper David Marshall had been impeded, the goal was given after a VAR check.
Dhanda’s leveller cancelled out Élie Youan’s opener after the in-form striker pounced on a mistake from Jack Baldwin.
Lee Johnson made one change following the resounding 6-0 victory over Aberdeen with Kevin Nisbet starting in place of Harry McKirdy.
New signing CJ Egan-Riley was on the substitutes’ bench where he joined youngsters Murray Johnson, Oscar MacIntyre, Josh O’Connor and Ethan Laidlaw.
With Nohan Kenneh unable to play against his parent club, Ross County made one enforced change with Jordan Tillson replacing him.
The hosts signed former Hibee, Simon Murray, just hours before kick-off and the 30-year-old striker started on the bench for the Staggies.
The home side started the brighter of the two teams and created the first opportunity of note in the fourth minute when they loaded our box and from Dhanda’s free kick, Will Fish headed clear.
Baldwin’s long throws were a tactic County used at every opportunity during the first half and from his delivery Jordan White’s flick on was headed wide by Alex Iacovitti as the hosts went close.
The swirling wind and rain made the playing conditions difficult for both sides and led to numerous over and under-hit passes.
We soon came into the game as our midfield three began to dominate and tested the County defence with several crosses coming from Aiden McGeady and Lewis Stevenson.
We suffered a blow in the 22nd minute when Nisbet pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. The striker had been in a rich vein of former lately having just returned from a lengthy spell on the sidelines and he was replaced by McKirdy.
The deadlock was broken on 31 minutes when Baldwin was short with a headed pass back to Ross Laidlaw, which allowed Youan to pounce, and the striker ruthlessly slotted the ball through the goalkeeper’s legs before taking the acclaim of the 537 Hibs supporters behind the goal.
Youan’s third goal of the campaign was the first shot on target from either side in the match with the horrible playing conditions perhaps playing its part in Baldwin’s mistake.
County had a good chance to restore parity before the break when another long throw from Baldwin came into our box and found its way to Ross Callachan. The former Hearts man wasted the effort by scooping it over the crossbar.
Malky Mackay replaced Baldwin with debutant Murray during the interval hoping to spark something in the final third for his team.
The best opportunities however came at the other end as we pushed for a crucial second goal after the restart.
On 49 minutes, Laidlaw was called into action as he threw himself to his left to beat away an angled drive from Youan, with Jimmy Jeggo’s follow up blocked on the edge of the box.
Two minutes later and a similar strike from Youan was this time turned around the post by Laidlaw at the expense of a corner kick.
We kept pushing with County defenders putting their bodies on the line to block goal-bound efforts from McGeady and Youan.
From nowhere the hosts levelled and in controversial circumstances. Dhanda used the conditions to whip the ball into the middle from a corner and with no one making a connection it found the back of the net.
Goalkeeper David Marshall appeared to have been impeded by White to prevent him getting to the cross however, despite a VAR check, the goal stood much to the bemusement of our bench and supporters.
The home side had their backs up and substitutes David Cancola and Josh Sims combined on 78 minutes, with the latter heading a cross wide of goal from a good position.
Egan-Riley was given his debut for the closing stages as he and O’Connor replaced Chris Cadden and Jeggo.
Both teams pushed for a winner however neither could fashion any clear opportunities and it ended even.
Ross County: Laidlaw, Watson, Baldwin (Murray 46’), Iacovitti, Randall, Tillson (Loturi 61’), Callachan (Cancola 76’), Harmon, Dhanda, White (Stones 84’), Brophy (Sims 76’). Substitutes not used: Munro, Hiwula, Samuel, Smith.
Hibernian: Marshall, Cadden (Egan-Riley 77’), Fish, Hanlon, Stevenson, Jeggo (O’Connor 77’), Youan, Newell, Campbell, McGeady, Nisbet (McKirdy 24’). Substitutes not used: Johnson, Cabraja, Jair, Henderson, MacIntyre, Laidlaw.
Referee: Graham Grainger
Attendance: 3,074
