Hibs 1, Kilmarnock 0: Newell goal secures first home win - but margin of victory should have been greater

Joe Newell’s 12th-minute goal ensured a first home win of the season for Hibs but they didn’t make life easy for themselves against a dogged ten-man Kilmarnock side following Ash Taylor’s early sending-off.

Joe Newell celebrates what turned out to be the winner

The midfielder rifled in the opener after his free kick had been parried by Sam Walker but Hibs lived a profligate life in front of goal for the remaining 80 minutes, passing up several chances to make the win more comfortable.

One of Lee Johnson’s main gripes from Hibs’ opening five Scottish Premiership matches is his side’s tendency to start games off slowly. Against Kilmarnock they came flying out of the traps and even before the dismissal, Élie Youan and Ewan Henderson had managed four half-chances between them and former Easter Road striker Oli Shaw had tried his luck from distance.

The opening ten minutes had barely passed before Ryan Porteous sent Boyle clean through on goal with a clever pass and Taylor halted the Australian internationalist’s progress with a crude challenge. The Hibs players surrounded referee John Beaton and he appeared to take instruction from the West Stand assistant referee before producing the red card.

From the resultant free kick, Newell hit a fierce shot that Walker did well to repel but the rebound fell to the midfielder and he rifled it into the bottom corner to give Hibs a rare early lead.

Daniel Armstrong then stung David Marshall’s palms with a long-range effort before Josh Campbell fired narrowly wide from Chris Cadden’s near-post cross.

Nohan Kenneh then wasn’t far away with an effort that just curled away from the far post.

Shaw had a glorious chance to restore parity after Killie hit Hibs on the break with a slick counter-attack but the 24-year-old dragged his effort well wide.

Shortly afterwards it was Henderson who was guilty of a glaring miss when Cadden sent a cross into the middle that fell for the playmaker but he sent it high over the bar when it looked easier to score.

Hibs finished the half with another handful of half-chances.

Harry McKirdy was handed an early introduction to Scottish football when he replaced the injured Henderson five minutes into the second half and the bleach-blond forward was predictably in the thick of it.

Porteous and Boyle nearly linked up again on 55 minutes, the centre-back driving forwards and playing in Boyle, who then crossed for the defender who saw a powerful header expertly tipped over by Walker.

Just after the hour mark McKirdy had his first sight of goal, sending a diving header from Cadden’s centre just over the bar.

Youan was then released by Boyle but fired a vicious effort into the side-netting and blazed an effort well wide from Newell’s cross.

A flurry of bookings followed into the last 15 minutes, the most notable cautions for Porteous and Killie substitute Kyle Lafferty for a bit of a theatrical coming together.

Hibs had countless chances to make the points safe in the dying moments with substitute Momodou Bojang guilty of the worst miss, bursting clear of Killie’s last man but allowing Walker to save his tame effort.

Walker went up for a late Kilmarnock corner but somehow Hibs held on for a narrow victory that really could have, and should have, been far more comfortable.

Hibs: Marshall; Cadden, Porteous, Hanlon, Čabraja; Kenneh, Newell, Campbell, Henderson; Boyle, Youan. Subs: Schofield, Miller, Stevenson, McGregor, Fish; JDH, Jair, McKirdy, Bojang.

Kilmarnock: Walker; Wright, Taylor, Mayo; Alebiosu, Armstrong, Power, Polworth, Chrisene; Shaw, Cameron. Subs: Woods, Stokes, McKenzie, Sanders, Murray, Lyons, McInroy, Sotona, Lafferty.