Jason’s spot on as Hibs grind out a win
DUMBARTON HIBERNIAN 1
A FIRST-HALF penalty from in-form Jason Cummings was enough to give Hibs their fifth straight win, but this was a less-than-inspiring performance from the Championship favourites.
The Edinburgh side dominated possession and dictated play for large portions of the match, but struggled to break down an impressively resilient Dumbarton defence.
Hibs manager Neil Lennon was content with the win, observing: ‘We did enough to dig it out, but we could have been two or three up at half-time and had the game comfortably won.
‘I’m pleased with the mentality; we got a clean sheet as well. We’ve dug out a very good result and I’m happy with that.’
Hibernian created their first opportunity on 17 minutes. A John McGinn cross picked out Grant Holt who headed across the face of goal, Cummings met the ball, but his shot from close range was beaten away by Sons stopper Alan Martin. Hibs were rewarded for their dominance in 32 minutes when they were given a penalty for a push on Holt by centre-half Gregor Buchanan.
Cummings stepped up to take the spot-kick and fired the ball low into the centre of the net to cap his 100th start for his club.
Just one minute later and Cummings nearly doubled the lead as he chased down a loose ball before dinking just over the bar from inside the area.
Andrew Shinnie tried his luck at extending the advantage just before the break, but his shot from 20 yards was well parried by Martin after the Hibs man’s trickery created space for the shot.
Dumbarton came into the game in the second half, and in 48 minutes Joe Thomson’s curling freekick was well saved by Hibs keeper Ofir Marciano.
The visitors held on to claim a valuable win.
Despite the defeat, Dumbarton boss Stevie Aitken said: ‘We can take a lot of heart from that today. It was a great performance.
‘I thought the penalty was harsh but they go for and against you.’