First half goals from skipper Liam Craig (pictured) and vice-captain David Gray secured Hibs a place in the fifth round of this year’s Scottish Cup and despite last week’s hat-trick hero Dominique Malonga being sent off near the end, the Easter Road outfit ran out comfortable winners against a stuffy Alloa Athletic on the artificial turf at Recreation Park this afternoon.
Head Coach Alan Stubbs retained faith in the players who scored six against Dumbarton last week.
Hibs started brightly but it was the home side who grabbed the lead against the run of play in the 15th minute when Mark Oxley failed to deal with Meggatt’s long range effort and the ball squirmed underneath his body.
Kevin Cawley almost doubled Alloa’s lead a few minutes later before Gray almost levelled the scoring with a fine header which struck the post
On 28 minutes Hibs equalised when Craig struck a free kick around the wall and into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
Malonga then went close before the goalkeeper did well to stop a Paul Hanlon volley.
Hibs eventually took the lead their play deserved when Scott Allan spotted Gray at the back post and the former Manchester United full back’s header looped into the net, to the delight of the large travelling support.
Stubbs’ players continued to dominate possession throughout the second half however the Wasps had the best chance which Ryan McCord wasted.
Craig then tested the keeper before having to leave the field with a hamstring injury.
With four minutes remaining Hibs were reduced to ten men when Malonga kicked out at Ben Gordon and was deservedly shown a red card however the ten men held on to progress into the fifth round.
The draw will be made on Monday.
Alloa Athletic: McDowall, Doyle, Gordon, Benedictus, Meggatt, Docherty, Hetherington (Ferns 76′), McCord, Cawley, Spence, Buchanan. Substitutes not used: Gibson, Asghar, Wilson, Forsyth.
Hibernian: Oxley, Gray, Hanlon, Fontaine, Robertson, Craig (Harris 79′), Stevenson Handling, Allan (Kennedy 85′), Malonga, Cummings (Stanton 76′). Substitutes not used: Perntreau, Heffernan, Sinclair, Booth.
Referee: Bobby Madden.
Attendance 2138
Photo by John Preece
http://www.photoboxgallery.com/jlp-photography
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
