Aberdeen were gifted three points at Easter Road by a blundering Hibs side who ran out of luck as they fought hard to stage a second-half comeback. Gary Caldwell's poor back-pass was intercepted by Stevie Crawford to slip in the opener early in the game.
And a terrible mix-up between Chris Hogg and 'keeper Zibi Malkowski allowed Darren Mackie to bundle in the second.
Derek Riordan missed a penalty after a host of chances for Hibs, while Steven Whittaker knocked in a late free kick.
Hibs remain third in the league table but their season is in danger of unravelling, having picked up just four points from a possible 18.
Aberdeen stay in eighth position but things are looking brighter, with the win following their stirring Scottish Cup comeback at Tannadice.
The afternoon started badly for Caldwell, with some sections of the home support booing him after reports of his contract talks with Celtic.
And things were to get worse for the Scotland defender when he gave away the opening goal after just three minutes.
Having done well to win possession near the corner flag, Caldwell foolishly played a back-pass straight to opposition striker Crawford, who nipped in to roll the ball home.
Ten minutes later, the visitors were handed their second goal thanks to another calamitous error.
Hogg got in a mix-up with Malkowski and only succeeded in knocking the ball into the path of Mackie, who had the simple task of finding an unguarded net.
The home side struggled to find any passing fluency and 35 minutes had gone before they managed to test the Dons goalkeeper.
Brown skipped past Richie Byrne and cut the ball back for Riordan, but the striker's low shot was well dealt with by Jamie Langfield.
 Riordan missed a penalty for Hibs |
Hibs started the second half at a whirlwind pace and Riordan was unlucky to see his measured curling shot cannon off the post and into the arms of Langfield.
The visiting goalkeeper then had to parry a fierce strike from Brown before Riordan found the net, only to be denied by a linesman's flag.
Langfield then made a great save to deny Brown after a flowing move involving Kevin Thomson and Garry O'Connor.
Steven Fletcher slid in to meet a driven cross from Riordan but the youngster's effort flew wide from eight yards.
Hibs were awarded a penalty after 68 minutes when Riordan was upended by Barry Nicholson.
But, from the spot, Riordan found the inside of the post for a second time as the ball rebounded to safety.
Aberdeen continued to camp deep in defence but the penalty miss appeared to take the wind out of the home side.
Langfield made yet another impressive save to deny Brown for a third time time before Hibs grabbed a last-gasp goal with a free-kick from Whittaker.
Dons substitute Scott Muirhead was then sent off for two stupid yellow cards inside 60 seconds but the visitors only had to hold on for a minute more.
Hibernian: Malkowski, Whittaker, Caldwell, Hogg (Fletcher 58), Murphy, Scott Brown, Stewart, Thomson, Glass (Sproule 45), O'Connor, Riordan (Morrow 74). Subs Not Used: Simon Brown, McCluskey, McDonald, Rudge.
Booked: Stewart. Goal: Whittaker 90.
Aberdeen: Langfield, McNaughton, Anderson, Griffin, Byrne, Foster, Nicholson, Clark, Smith (Muirhead 81), Crawford (Lovell 78), Mackie. Subs Not Used: Esson, Dempsey, Stewart, Considine, Macauley.
Sent Off: Muirhead (92). Booked: Mackie, Muirhead. Goals: Crawford 4, Mackie 14.
Att: 14,572
Ref: D McDonald
MMIX
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