Linlithgow Rose 2, Hibs 1: Ten-man development side suffers loss in West Lothian

The Hibs development team suffered a 2-1 loss at Linlithgow Rose on Wednesday night

The Hibs team, which included 15-year-old Jayden Fairley in midfield, made the short trip to West Lothian last night just 24 hours after Paul Heckingbottom's side had taken on Arbroath in the Betfred Cup at Easter Road.

The home side nearly took an early lead, after the ball was headed home following a free-kick routine, but the goal was ruled out for an infringement.

Hibs went down to ten men on the half-hour mark after Kos Sadiki saw red for an off-the-ball incident in the Rose penalty area with Josh Campbell - named on the bench for the first team on Tuesday night - dropping back into a three-man defence.

Shortly after, Rose did take the lead, with Colin Strickland getting on the end of a low cross to divert the ball past Patrick Martin.

Hibs started the second half strongly, and Fairley levelled matters with a fine effort from 20 yards just minutes after the restart. The Easter Road side continued pressing but the hosts retook the lead on 75 minutes after Ross Hutchison capitalised on a short backpass from Gregor Woods to notch Rose's second, clipping the ball beyond the 'keeper.

Martin was replaced by goalkeeping coach Alan Combe after picking up a knock with around ten minutes left to play, and the 44-year-old pulled off a fine save to deny Rose a third with five minutes remaining.

The Capital club intends to follow a programme of specially-arranged matches in lieu of entering a team into the SPFL Reserve League for the 2019/20 season. Opponents have so far included Under-23 teams from Huddersfield, Middlesbrough and Newcastle while a team will travel to Tranent Juniors next month.

Hibs' development squad is in Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup action against Elgin City on August 6.

Hibs team: Martin (Combe 79), Stirling, Sadiki, Doig, Yeats, Woods (Bradley 75), Block, Fairley, Campbell, Galantes, Gullan.