Hibernian 2-0 Kilmarnock
Scottish Premier League
Saturday 15th March 08
Easter Road, Edinburgh
Quote:
Hibernian moved into third place in the SPL thanks to goals from Filipe Morais and Steven Fletcher.
A 29th minute punt from Rob Jones was knocked down to Morais by Colin Nish and the winger slotted the ball past Alan Combe from 18 yards.
Fletcher then raced on to a great pass from Merouane Zemmama and drilled in the second goal after 73 minutes.
Dean Shiels came close to adding a third goal but the substitute's late strike whistled narrowly wide.
Hibs have had better days but ran out comfortable winners, with Zemmama at the heart of most of their good work.
Kilmarnock matched the home side in most areas but offered very little threat in attack.
Hibernian's first sight of goal came in the eighth minute when Morais was picked out by Zemmama on the counter-attack but his header across goal fell behind Fletcher.
Kilmarnock were seeing a lot of the ball but could not trouble a well-organised home rearguard.
Hibs had more zip in their play but the goal came from a very straightforward long ball up the park from skipper Jones.
Former Killie man Nish managed to knock it on for Morais who recovered from a poor first touch to race clear and curl the ball beyond Combe from 18 yards.
Kilmarnock started the second half strongly and had the home team pinned back for long spells.
Hibs keeper Yves Makalambay stopped a close-range effort from Danny Invincibile and the striker flashed another header over the crossbar from the resulting corner.
Hibs lost their earlier fluency but were still a threat on the counter-attack, with Combe having to make an excellent save to push away a fierce strike from Zemmama.
Fletcher was then denied by another fine stop from Combe after more good set-up work from Zemmama.
Teenage left-back Paul Hanlon wasted a great chance to score his first Hibs goal when he made a mess of a header from Zemmama's corner.
Fletcher was then sent clear by a clever lofted pass from Zemmama and had the pace to race away from Grant Murray and find the net, despite Combe getting fingertips to the striker's shot.
Kilmarnock were deflated by the second goal and Shiels came close to extending Hibs' lead with a shot which shaved the outside of the post.
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