English Premier League side Newcastle United proved to be too strong for Hibs in their last pre-season friendly at Easter Road tonight.
The Magpies brought a large travelling support to the capital and they saw their side start brightly.
Paul Hanlon and Darren McGregor kept the Newcastle attackers at bay before Hibs took the lead in the 9th minute with a superb strike by Stevie Mallan from a Florian Kamberi knockdown.
New £40m striker Joelinton levelled six minutes with a cool left foot finish from Manquillo’s excellent cross.
A Joe Newell effort took a deflection off Sean Longstaff and looped just over the visitors’ crossbar as play raged from end to end,
Ofir Marciano was called into action to prevent a Hanlon own goal then he did well to stand tall to deny Almiron.
Newcastle took the lead in the 34th minute with a powerful 25-yaerd strike from Longstaff and the first half ended with the visitors leading 2-1.
Paul Heckingbottom made seven changes at the break as hibs looked to get back into the game.
Steven Whittaker’s long-range effort in the 64th minute was deflected behind for a corner which Fraser Murray took and found McGregor was unable to get his header on target.
The biggest cheer of the night came when the popular defender Ryan Porteous appeared from the bench but he was unable to halt the progress of Steve Bruce’s men.
Newcastle made it 3-1 in the 71st minute when Rolando Aaron’s cross was headed in Lascelles.
Newcastle goalkeeper Karl Darlow did well to save from Oli Shaw then then Murray as Hibs pressed forward but the visitors almost added to their lead in the last minute when Federico Fernandez’s header was cleared off the goal line by Jamie Gullan.
Hibs season starts in earnest on Saturday with a home game against St Mirren.
Hibernian: Marciano (Maxwell 46’), Hanlon (Jackson 46’), Slivka (Vela 46’), Newell (Horgan 46’), Mallan (Allan 46’), James (Whittaker 46’), Kamberi (Doidge 46’), McGregor (Porteous 65’), Shaw (Gullan 80’), Murray (Campbell 80’), Mackie (Doig 90’). Substitute not used: Stirling.
Newcastle United: Darlow, Dummett (Clark 71’), Schar (Fernandez 78’), Lascelles, Shelvey (M. Longstaff 78,), Joelinton (Muto 69’) , Ritchie (Aarons 11’), Hayden, Manquillo (Sterry 78’), Almiron (Murphy 69’), S. Longstaff (Sung-Yeung 60’). Substitute not used: Woodman.
Referee: John Beaton.
Attendance: 12,557.
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.
