Hibs negotiated a difficult Scottish Cup tie away to Arbroath and progress into the last eight of the competition with a comfortable 3-1 victory.
Manager Shaun Maloney made one change to the starting XI that lost to Rangers with Paul McGinn missing out through injury and Sylvester Jasper taking his place.
Norwegian youngster Elias Melkersen was amongst the matchday squad for the first time since arriving in January and was listed as a substitute.
In wet and windy conditions Arbroath silenced the travelling supporters in the fifth minute when Colin Hamilton’s cross found former Hearts’ striker Craig Wighton at the back post and he knocked the ball into the net at the second attempt from close range.
Hibs dominated from that point onwards and spurned a number of chances before the hosts almost doubled their lead in controversial circumstances.
Wighton chased down a ball into the corner and was flagged offside. Willie Colum waved play on and as players switched off, Colin Hamilton should have scored but was denied by a stunning block from Ryan Porteous who remained alert to the danger.
Moments later Hibs equalise when captain Lewis Stevenson floated a wonderful cross into the back post where the unmarked Demitri Mitchell nodded it beyond Derek Gaston to equalise.
Hibs continued to press forward and created a number of chances without scoring.
After the restart Matt Macey was called into action three times to deny Arbroath players as they mounted attack after attack.
Hibs quickly regained control however and after two ‘goals’ that were chalked off for offside they took the lead with 20-minutes remaining.
Kevin Nisbet did well to control a cross from Ewen Henderson before firing the ball high into the net to the delight of the Hibs fans at the other end.
Sub Chris Mueller wrapped things up in the 86th minute with his first goal for the club after a mistake in the Arbroath defence.
After the final whistle Maloney told BBC Sportsound: “It was a very good performance and, with losing a goal like that, it made it even harder.
“We should have scored more again and, at the start of the second half, we needed our goalkeeper and I was disappointed with the goal. But it was only six minutes in and I still had belief that we would create chances and we were clinical when we needed it.”
Hibs will find out their quarter final opponents tomorrow.
Arbroath: Gaston, Thomson, Hamilton, Little, O’Brien, Henderson (Low 69’), McKenna (Bakare 87’), Hamilton (Donnelly 87’), Stewart, Hamilton, Wighton (Ford 87’). Substitutes not used: Gold, Hilson, Swankie, Linn, Antell.
Hibs: Macey, Bushiri, Porteous, Stevenson, Cadden, Doyle-Hayes, Henderson (Wright 83’), Doig, Jasper (Mueller 65’), Nisbet (Doidge 83’), Mitchell (Campbell 77’). Substitutes not used: Dabrowski, Allan, McGregor, Scott, Melkersen, Mitchell.
Referee: Willie Collum.
Attendance: 4,049.
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.
