Owen Elding opens Easter Road account as Hibs return to winning ways

Hibs returned to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 home win over St Mirren this afternoon.

David Gray made three changes three to his starting Line-up following the Edinburgh derby defeat in midweek with new signing Owen Elding handed his first start.

The 19-year-old joined from Sligo Rovers in the January transfer window and he is joined by Warren O’Hora and Jamie McGrath who both start after returning to fitness following injuries.

Defender Munashe Garananga missed out after picking up a knock at Tynecastle with Martin Boyle and Kai Andrews were both named on the bench.

St Mirren made three changes following the 4-3 defeat by Kilmarnock on Wednesday.  

Dan Nlundulu, Jake Young and Conor McMenamin replace Jayden Richardson, Roland Idowu and Mikael Mandron who are all listed amongst the substitutes 

St Mirren started on the front foot and Conor McMenamin tested Raphael Sallinger who was forced to tip his shot over the bar. 

From then on Hibs dominated possession and Jack Iredale whipped in a but Dane Scarlett’s header was easily saved by Shamal George. 

Elding then beat the offside trap from a quickly taken free-kick but was unable to connect with the ball. 

Rocky Bushiri had a great chance to open the scoring but took a huge fresh air swipe at the ball  with the goal gaping. 

Then just before the break Hibs opened the scoring when, following a short corner the ball was crossed to the near post by Dan Barlaser and Elding opened his Hibs account with a sublime glancing header. 

Hibs piled the pressure on at after the restart and should have been 2-0 up when Nicky Cadden dinked a brilliant cross to the back post for Felix Passlack, but the German right-back’s volley smacked the upright instead of the back of the net. 

At the other end a mistake from Miguel Chaiwa allowed Mikael Mandron to try his luck from the edge of the area but Sallinger produced a fine save. 

In the 63^rd minute Scarlett and Elding made way for Boyle and Ante Suto. 

And the changes paid immediate dividends when Cadden skipped away from Conor McMenamin and his low cross was knocked over the line by Suto for his second goal for the Club. 

Chaiwa was replaced by Kai Andrews in the 77^th minute. 

And with two minutes remaining Josh Campbell replaced McGrath and despite some late pressure from the visitors Hibs held on to secure the valuable three points.

Hibs: Sallinger, O’Hora, Bushiri, Iredale, Passlack, Chaiwa, Barlaser, N Cadden, McGrath, Scarlett, Elding.

Substitutes: Smith, Youan, Manneh, Boyle, Megwa, Andrews, Campbell, Molotnikov, Suto.

St Mirren: George, Fraser, King, Freckleton, McMenamin, Phillips, Devaney, Gogic, John, Nlundulu, Young.

Substitutes: Mullen, Richardson, Tanser, Donnelly, O’Hara, Idowu, Calvin, Etete, Mandron.