Henderson and Porteous seal winning start for Johnson at Hibs

HIBERNIAN marked Lee Johnson’s first game as manager with a 2-0 friendly win over Paul Hartley’s Hartlepool in Portugal.

The Easter Road side scored either side of the interval with goals from Ewan Henderson and Ryan Porteous.

In the searing heat of the Amendoeira Golf Resort in the Algarve, which necessitated half-hourly water breaks and left a sticky, dry pitch, Johnson sent out two different XIs for 45 minutes each in a bid to sharpen up ahead of the new campaign.

There were starts for new recruits David Marshall, Lewis Miller, Kyle McClelland, Nohan Kenneh, Jair Tavares and Elie Youan in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Former Celtic winger Aiden McGeady, signed on a 12-month deal last Friday, was joined by the likes of Porteous, Elias

Melkersen, Joe Newell and Christian Doidge in turning out for the second 45 minutes.

Henderson gave Hibs the lead in the 27th minute, drilling in a left-foot finish after Jake DoyleHayes had won the ball back.

Porteous nodded in the second from a Newell corner six minutes into the second half before Melkersen had a third ruled out for offside.

Hartley gave Hartlepool runouts to new signings Reghan

Tumilty, Euan Murray, Kyle Letheren and Jake Hastie but Hibs dominated in front of around 100 of their fans who had made the trip for the game and a second friendly against Burton Albion tomorrow.

Meanwhile, skipper Paul Hanlon has revealed he is closing in on a return to training and is eyeing a comeback at the start of the Premiership season.

With Kevin Nisbet, Demetri Mitchell and Kyle Magennis, the defender is one of four players who have travelled to Portugal as they recover from injury.

He said: “It’s going well. It’s at the stage now where I’m not too far away from beginning to run again. It’s been a bit frustrating coming out here when the lads are out working hard and I’m making my way to the gym every day.

“But it’s been good to be here with all the new lads settling in and for team morale.”