Hibs 2, Hartlepool 0: Henderson and Porteous on target as Hibees kick off pre-season with friendly win

Goals in each half from Ewan Henderson and Ryan Porteous gave Hibs a deserved 2-0 victory over Hartlepool United in Alcantarilha on Wednesday morning.

Henderson finished via the post shortly before the half-hour mark with Porteous heading a second in from a corner early in the second half.

Lee Johnson handed starts to six new signings in a 4-2-3-1 set-up, with David Marshall, Lewis Miller, Kyle McClelland, Nohan Kenneh, Jair Tavares, and Elie Youan lining up alongside Rocky Bushiri, Ewan Henderson, Runar Hauge, Lewis Stevenson, and Jake Doyle-Hayes.

Hibs enjoyed the bulk of the chances in the opening exchanges, Hauge looking lively and Henderson having a couple of half-chances.

At the other end Hartlepool were struggling to carve out any opportunities of their own, with Marshall a virtual spectator.

Shortly before the half-hour mark Hibs took a deserved lead, Henderson winning the ball around 30 yards from goal before driving forward and sending an effort past Ben Killip via the right-hand post.

The Easter Road side pushed for a second and Youan picked the ball up inside his own half and embarked on a mazy run but substitute ‘keeper Patrick Boyes kept Pools in the encounter with a good block.

The Frenchman then played in Hauge on the stroke of half-time but the Norwegian winger’s effort was deflected behind for a corner which came to nothing.

Ewan Henderson celebrates his opener for Hibs. Picture: Patrick McPartlin

Five minutes after the restart, with Johnson having changed his entire team, Ryan Porteous made it two as he powered in a header from Joe Newell’s corner.

Hartlepool, with a smaller pool of players to choose from, understandably tired as the game wore on and Hibs benefited from fresher players.

Allan Delferriere, operating as one of the two sitting midfielders, nearly made it three with a well-struck effort from distance on 61 minutes, Kyle Letheren in goal doing well to push it clear.

Porteous came close to a second when he met another Newell corner but his hooked effort flew just wide of the upright.

Aiden McGeady was impressing on the left and his crosses were a source of consternation for the Pools defence while Josh Doig was also keen to get forward on the overlap as much as possible.

Hibs thought they’d made it three on 77 minutes when a Newell corner was met by Jack Brydon whose header fell for Elias Melkersen via a Christian Doidge deflection. The striker stuck it in the net from close range but the linesman’s flag ruled it out.

Melkersen had another chance late on when Cadden slipped him in after collecting a long ball forward from Porteous but the Norwegian dragged his shot wide of the far post.

It was a handy workout for Hibs in the Algarve sun, watched by a considerable number of fans who had made the trip from Edinburgh.

Next up for Hibs is a meeting with Burton Albion on Friday at the same venue.

Hibs first-half XI: Marshall, Miller, Bushiri, McClelland, Stevenson, Kenneh, Doyle-Hayes, Hauge, Henderson, Tavares, Youan.

Second-half XI: Dabrowski, Cadden, Porteous, Brydon, Doig, Newell, Delferriere, Melkersen, Campbell, McGeady, Doidge. Sub not used: Johnson