Motherwell 0 Hibs 3
Hibs produced one of their best performances of the season, defeating Motherwell 3-0 at Fir Park.
The morale-boosting victory takes the Hibees off the bottom of the William Hill Premiership and above city rivals, Heart of Midlothian.
Junior Hoilett and Mykola Kuharevich scored during a dominant first half showing before the boys managed the second period brilliantly and Josh Campbell added a late third.
David Gray made just one change following our midweek comeback against Aberdeen with Chris Cadden replacing Lewis Miller in the starting XI.
There was little between the two teams during the opening ten minutes as they each felt their way into the match and cancelled the other out.
Eventually, Hibs began to take control of the midfield and our high press was forcing the home side into errors.
The first sign of that came in the 15th minute when Liam Gordon’s pass to Lennon Miller was intercepted by Hoilett, he fed Elie Youan who in turn looked to tee up Chris Cadden before Andy Halliday did just enough to poke the ball away to prevent us getting a free shot at goal.
Hoilett then saw his shot from the edge of the box blocked as the Hibees pushed hard looking for a breakthrough.
On 25 minutes, Motherwell carved out their first chance when a cross from Marvin Kaleta found Kofi Balmer only for his acrobatic effort to finish high and wide of Jordan Smith’s goal.
The deadlock was broken less than a minute later when Nicky Cadden’s deep cross from the left was missed by Aston Oxborough and Hoilett cushioned a volley into an unguarded net.
It was the Canadian winger's second goal for Hibernian - both coming against the Steelmen.
Hibernian had a great chance to double the lead on 32 minutes when Chris Cadden’s cross from the right found Youan unmarked in the box, however his angled header was straight at Oxborough who gathered.
Nicky Cadden then sought to score another free-kick to match his midweek effort and although he got his strike up and over the defensive wall, Oxborough pulled off a terrific save to push it round his post.
From the resultant corner kick, we doubled our advantage. Nicky Cadden’s delivery was flicked on and Warren O’Hora poked it goalward. Although Oxborough saved Kuharevich’s first shot, the striker was on hand to thump home the rebound for his fourth goal of the campaign.
It was little more than we deserved for a brave first half showing where we went onto the front foot and took the game to the hosts.
Motherwell did have one shot at goal before the interval when Miller dragged a shot wide from the edge of the box.
The Steelmen left the field at the break to the sound of booing from the home support and it wasn’t just the supporters that were unhappy with what they had witnessed as Stuart Kettlewell made a double change - Tony Watt and Zach Robinson replacing Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Halliday.
The changes did little to alter the pattern of play as Hibs started the second period brightly winning a series of corner kicks.
In the opening moments we went close with Kuharevich heading over, Nectar Triantis having an effort blocked and Nicky Cadden shooting into the side netting.
On 49 minutes, Motherwell recorded their first effort on target when Kaleta’s shot on the turn from the edge of our box was comfortably saved by Smith.
We were soon back on the attack when Chris Cadden found his brother with a hanging cross from the right; Nicky rose above two Motherwell defenders but was unable to guide his header on target.
Motherwell had a great opportunity to reduce arrears on 61 minutes when a corner kick found its way to Robinson inside our six-yard box; he spun and knocked it goalward only for Smith to brilliantly touch it over his crossbar.
For the final 20 or so minutes, Gray looked to introduce fresh legs with goal scorers Hoilett and Kuharevich replaced by Josh Campbell and Dwight Gayle, respectively.
It would prove an inspired substitution as they combined to score our third goal of the afternoon when a long ball from Smith was laid off by Gayle for Campbell to drill a low finish beyond Oxborough.
Motherwell went close to a consolation effort with three minutes remaining when substitutes Steve Seddon and Moses Ebiye combined before the latter’s curling effort crashed back off the post.
We could’ve added a fourth in the first minute of additional time when Martin Boyle cut back for Triantis who was denied point-blank by Oxborough before Nicky Cadden shot from a ridiculously acute angle only for Oxborough to adjust and save with his legs.
In the end it was a wonderful performance in Lanarkshire with three hugely welcome and thoroughly deserved points lifting us off the foot of the table.