Hibs strengthen hold on third place with goals from Nisbet and Boyle

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Hibs strengthened their grip on third place in the Premiership after Kevin Nisbet and Martin Boyle scored in a win over Livi.

Scotland striker Nisbet grabbed his 17 th goal of the campaign after just seven minutes before Boyle doubled the home side’s lead with a penalty.

The visitors scored a spot kick of their own through Jay Emmanuel-thomas with five minutes left, reward for a vastlyimproved second-half display.

Hibs went into the game without Josh Doig, one of two changes to the team that beat Stranraer in the Scottish Cup on Sunday, after the highly-rated leftback sustained a shoulder injury at the weekend.

However, that did not upset the balance to the Leith outfit after Jack Ross’ team stormed into a twogoal lead inside 26 minutes.

The opener arrived following a flowing move that carved open a static Lions rearguard. Paul Mcginn played in Boyle and the winger, who could have shot himself, played a pass along the six-yard box for Nisbet to tap in.

Livingston, who were likely feeling the effects of Saturday’s penalty shootout defeat to Aberdeen in the cup, had offered very little going the other way and the hosts doubled their advantage from the spot through Boyle. He dusted himself down having won the spot-kick after going down under a challenge from Efe Ambrose before sending goalkeeper Max Stryjek the wrong way.

Livingston manager David Martindale made changes and substitute Matej Poplatnik almost made an immediate impact when he directed Nicky Devlin’s cross just wide.

The visitors were vastly improved, with Hibs struggling to match their energy levels, and Livi pulled a goal back from the penalty spot after striker Emmanuel-thomas was felled by Kyle Magennis but it proved too late.