Hibs 3 Motherwell 1
Hibs moved into the top six of the William Hill Premiership following a 3-1 victory over Motherwell at Easter Road.
Confidence was flowing after just one loss in our last nine outings and two goals inside three first half minutes from Martin Boyle and Nectar Triantis had us sitting comfortable at half-time.
Motherwell had been poor during the first half but were much improved after the break and halved the deficit through a free-kick from substitute Callum Slattery.
Yet, having worked hard to get back into the contest, the visitors contrived to undo their hard work when Stephen O’Donnell gave away a silly penalty kick that Boyle converted just three minutes after Slattery’s goal.
A miserable afternoon for Motherwell was compounded when Jack Vale was shown a straight red card late on.
Hibernian Head Coach David Gray made two changes for the visit of Stuart Kettlewell’s Steelmen.
Warren O’Hora returned to the starting XI at the expense of Lewis Miller whilst Dylan Levitt – who has had to be patient for his opportunity – came in for Hyeokkyu Kwon.
Motherwell made six changes to their side with goalkeeper Archie Mair thrown straight in after signing just a day prior on loan from Norwich City.
Although we had most of the early possession, we had little to show for it in terms of opportunities to test Mair in the Motherwell goal.
In fact, there was so little by the way of goalmouth incidents inside the opening 20 minutes that only a slide tackle from Rocky to stop Vale running in behind and a deflected Josh Campbell effort that finished wide of goal, were worthy of noting.
We would suffer an early blow when December’s William Hill Premiership Player of the Month winner, Nicky Cadden, was forced off with a facial injury. He was replaced by Jordan Obita.
Obita’s introduction would prove crucial as it was from his delivery across the face of the Motherwell goal that Boyle scored his 9th goal of the season, to break the deadlock.
Just three minutes later we doubled our advantage after Ewan Wilson’s heavy touch from Mair’s pass was pounced on by Triantis who drove forward and finished with aplomb – driving a low shot into the far corner of the net.
More bad news was to follow for Motherwell as Paul McGinn pulled up and had to be replaced by Dan Casey. The former Hibs defender appeared distraught as he walked off, having only just returned following a two-month absence.
We had a good opportunity to extend our lead shortly before the break when Triantis looked to turn in a Dwight Gayle flick on following a corner kick however, under pressure from Mair at his post, he was unable to turn it home.
It had been a hugely disappointing first half for the visitors and their support with the Steelmen failing to register a single effort on our goal. That prompted manager Kettlewell into making a double change, with Wilson and Andy Halliday replaced by Marvin Kaleta and Tawanda Maswanhise.
The Hibees started the second period brightly and had the ball in the back of Motherwell’s net inside 60 seconds, however Campbell was adjudged to have been offside when he scored, and the goal didn’t stand.
Motherwell finally registered an effort on goal in the 51st minute when Tony Watt headed over from Maswanhise’s floated cross from the right.
The former Celtic striker did similar from a O’Donnell delivery ten minutes later as the Fir Park men began to test our defence.
Just after the hour mark, we made a triple change with Junior Hoilett, Kwon and Miller replacing Gayle, Levitt and Chris Cadden.
Maswanhise made a difference to Motherwell’s attacking threat, and he forced Jordan Smith into his first – albeit routine – save of the afternoon with a curling shot from distance.
With 14 minutes remaining the visitors halved the deficit after Jack Iredale had fouled Vale on the edge of the box and substitute Callum Slattery scored directly from the free-kick.
Yet, all Motherwell’s good work was undone inside three minutes when O’Donnell foolishly hauled down Miller in front of referee Colin Steven and Boyle duly dispatched the spot kick.
The goal sucked the life from Motherwell’s fight and we went close to extending our lead with a Hoilett shot that was deflected just wide of Mair’s front post.
In the dying seconds of the game Vale cynically fouled Boyle as we countered Motherwell and was given a straight red card to compound his side’s misery.
Another three points for the Hibees moves us into the top six and ensures our fine run of form continued. Next weekend we open our Scottish Cup campaign at home to Clydebank.