An injury-time goal has saved Nick Montgomery's Hibernian from going into Scotland's winter break on the back of three successive defeats.
Trailing 2-1 at home to struggling Motherwell, Hibs snatched a draw through Frenchman Elie Youan in the 91st minute, his second goal of the game.
That left the Edinburgh club sixth in the 12-team Scottish Premiership table, with Motherwell sliding to ninth.
The English-born, Australian-naturalised, former Scotland under-21 international has made decent progress since arriving at Easter Road from Central Coast Mariners in September when Hibs had three points from four matches.
They now have 25 from 20 but had been on a sticky patch.
Montgomery's options were reduced by Martin Boyle and Lewis Miller having left for Socceroos duty in Qatar with Rocky Bushiri (DR Congo) and Jojo Wollacott (Ghana) also absent due to the Africa Cup of Nations.
"We showed big character," Montgomery said.
"It's not easy when you see the squad towards the end of the game - we've got three 16/17 year-olds on the pitch, and Harry McKirdy who has come back from a life-threatening situation (heart surgery)."
Edinburgh rivals Hearts are also missing players, with Calem Nieuwenhof the only one of their quartet of Aussies starting.
Kye Rowles and Nathaniel Atkinson are with Graham Arnold's Asian Cup squad and Cammy Devlin out with an ankle injury.
They made light of the absentees with a 2-1 win at bottom-club Livingston to cement their third place.
Lawrence Shankland, despite missing a second successive penalty, scored for a sixth consecutive game.
With 30 minutes remaining former Newcastle Jets striker Tete Yengi, brother of Portsmouth's Kusini, made his debut for Livingston after signing from Ipswich Town.
At the top, Celtic remain eight points clear after an easy 3-0 win at St Mirren.
Two goals in the first six minutes from Daizen Maeda and Matt O'Riley put them in charge and after Toyosi Olusanya was sent off in first-half injury-time there was no way back for the Paisley side.
The Buddies went into the game without Socceroos Ryan Strain (injured) and Keanu Baccus (Asian Cup).
Second-placed Rangers bounced back from their Old Firm defeat with a 3-1 win over Kilmarnock, while Aberdeen won 3-0 at relegation-threatened Ross County.
St Johnstone's match at Dundee was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
