Hibs crowned Reserve League champions after dominant victory over Queen of the South

Hibs clinched the SPFL Reserve League title in style after a dominant display saw them blow away Queen of the South 6-0 at Palmerston Park.

Steve Kean’s side scored four times before the break with Darren McGregor, Allan Delferrière, Jacob MacIntyre and Murray Atiken all netting for the visitors.

This was added to after the interval by Malik Zaid and Josh O’Connor as Hibs coasted to a title triumph at the home of their beleaguered hosts.

It was the club’s final match in the ten-team league and meant they finished the campaign undefeated, including winning all five of their away encounters, racking up 23 points from nine games.

Captain Darren McGregor with the Reserve League trophy after Hibs defeated Queen of the South on Tuesday evening. Picture: Hibernian FC

Going into Tuesday night’s match, only fifth-place Dundee United on 11 points could theoretically have caught them with three games in hand.

Any hope of that was pretty much extinguished in the first 15 minutes as Hibs raced into a two-goal lead. McGregor glanced home a header from an Ethan Laidlaw set-piece before Delferrière tucked away a spot-kick following a foul on O’Connor.

McIntyre increased the advantage with a nicely drilled shot across goal into the far corner before Aitken killed the game as a contest right before the break with the pick of the bunch, finding the top corner of the net with an excellent strike from outside the area.

Laidlaw got himself a second assist as Zaid headed home from his cross before O’Connor put a bow on things midway through the second half. The son of former Hibs hero Garry embarked on a solo run through the Queens defence before dinking his finish over the onrushing goalkeeper.

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