QUEEN OF THE SOUTH 0 HIBS 3
Cummings (3) Henderson (41) Boyle (89)
HIBS boss Alan Stubbs hailed his side’s performance as they swept Queen of the South aside at Palmerston Park to keep up their pressure on the championship leaders.
He said: “The early goal in the opening minutes settled the side and I was happy with the way they took control. The goals were all well taken and we had chances to add to the score.”
But he admitted he was a little disappointed with the second half.
“We lost our grip a little but still managed to add to the scoreline.”
Hibs got off to the best of starts breaking the deadlock after less than four minutes.
The opener came courtesy of a well-worked goal from Dominique Malonga as the Congolese international back-heeled the ball towards the left by-line for Lewis Stevenson to whip it into the centre.
And as it eluded the Doonhemers’ defenders, Jason Cummings was on the spot to capitalise and slip the ball home.
Hibs continued to look the more dangerous of the two as they aimed to put behind them the disappointment of dropping two points in their draw with St Mirren the previous week.
They came close to adding a second when Malonga fired in a drive which brought out a diving save from Robbie Thomson and then the keeper had to dive at the feet of Cummings to keep his goal intact.
It seemed inevitable that Hibs would score again and the goal did indeed come just four minutes before the interval when Malonga broke downfield and ripped the defence apart with a pass which set Liam Henderson up to sweep the ball home from 15 yards.
Coach Stubbs made a tactical move midway through the half and took Cummings off following a yellow card and then he pushed on former Queen of the South favourite Danny Carmichael to give him a taste of the action against his old club.
Hibs comfortably played out the game to take their unbeaten run to six games and to put the icing on the cake of their victory, they notched a third goal.
It was Martin Boyle, two minutes from time, who did the honours.
The Easter Road side broke from defence and when the ball was swept across Queen of the South’s box, the substitute fired it home.
Queens’ manager James Fowler was disappointed at the outcome and said: We lost that early goal and from then on were fighting on the back foot.”