Hibs 2, Kilmarnock 0: Hibs up to fourth after comfortable victory over ten-man Killie

Goals by Will Fish and Matthew Hoppe gave Hibs a 2-0 victory over Kilmarnock that took the Easter Road side into fourth in the cinch Premiership table.

Matthew Hoppe scores from close range for his first goal for Hibs and the second of the afternoon

The visitors had Kyle Vassell sent off for serious foul play following a VAR review after an incident with Marijan Čabraja but rarely threatened in a game that Hibs could, and probably should, have won by a much larger margin.

Fish had already fired the visitors a warning of his aerial ability from corners in the sixth minute when a corner had to be bundled clear before the on-loan Manchester United defender could connect. Hibs then claimed for a penalty when Josh Campbell’s driven effort from the edge of the box struck Chris Stokes but a brief VAR check showed nothing out of the ordinary.

Stokes then had a presentable chance for Killie but David Marshall sprang to his right to deflect it away from the goal. It was the only real chance that the visitors had in a first half that was dominated by Hibs and how they went in at the interval just one goal to the good remains a mystery.

With a quarter of an hour on the clock they got that goal, Aiden McGeady whipping in a corner from the right for Fish to power a header past Sam Walker for his second goal in as many home games.

After that it was largely one-way traffic. Ewan Henderson nearly made it two with from close range but Walker gathered. The impressive Josh Campbell then set up Youan with a neat backheel but Walker again made the save. Two minutes later Campbell fed Chris Cadden and the full-back’s low cross was just out of reach of the arriving Youan.

Lee Johnson has spoken often of his desire to turn Hibs into an attacking force with which to be reckoned and for most of the first 45 he would have been chuffed with what he saw. The chances kept coming – Henderson stung Walker’s palms from 20 yards, and then saw an effort cleared off the line after Youan had slalomed past the Killie defence.

The only down side for Hibs was the loss of McGeady to what looked like a hamstring injury on 34 minutes, with Hoppe coming onto replace him. The on-loan Middlesbrough striker took just two minutes of the second period to open his account for Hibs. Jimmy Jeggo’s effort was blocked by Ash Taylor but the ball rebounded of Lewis Mayo’s face and sat up nicely for the American to steer home from close in. He went close again shortly before the hour mark, firing wide, as he impressed on his home debut.

Killie continued to look for a way back into the game and went close through Rory McKenzie while Cadden hooked one off the line. With a little over 20 minutes remaining, Vassell was booked for catching Čabraja with a high boot but referee John Beaton was advised to check the monitors and overturned his own decision.

It meant Hibs could see out the game at a leisurely pace but perhaps the closest we came to a third goal was Scott Robinson’s effort that beat Marshall but was hacked off the line by CJ Egan-Riley, summing up the visitors’ afternoon.