Hibs and Hearts stars feature as Australia start Asian Cup campaign with dominant win

Hibs and Hearts stars featured as Australia began their Asian Cup campaign in Qatar with a suffocating win.

Hearts and Hibs stars were in action on Saturday as part of the Asian Cup group stage, which got going for Australia on Saturday afternoon, UK time. The Asian Cup takes place in Qatar this year, and Australia will be hoping to put together a strong run in the competition.

Part of their bid to win the competition are four players who currently ply their trade in Edinburgh, including two players from each of Hearts and Hibs. Lewis Miller and Martin Boyle are representing Hibs for the Aussies, while Kyle Rowles and Nat Atkinson from Hearts are also involved.

In Saturday's clash, Australia took care of business against India with a 2-0 win, with former Hibs player Jackson Irvine and Jordan Bos both netting in the second half. Though, the clash was not as even as the scoreline makes out, with Australia racking up 28 shots to India's four.

Boyle and Rowles started the clash, with Rowles playing the full 90 minutes at centre-back, while Boyle gave way in the 63rd minute for Sam Silvera.

Atkinson did not make it off the bench here, while Miller did not make the matchday squad. It's not immediately clear why he didn't make it, or whether there was a small injury at play. Australia are next in action on January 18 when they face Syria in their second group stage clash, and they then turn attention to a date with Uzbekistan on January 22 to round off the group stage. The Socceroos will be strong favourites to win their group, while they will also hold ambitions of winning the competition.