Hibernian came away with three points, defeating Motherwell 3-0 at Fir Park.
Junior Hoilett and Mykola Kukhareevych gave the Edinburgh men a two-goal advantage before Josh Campbell netted a third ten minutes from time.
Stuart Kettlewell restored Tawanda Maswanhise to the starting lineup after the Zimbabwe forward’s delayed return from international duty cost him his place against Ross County. Tom Sparrow’s ankle injury in the defeat at Dingwall forced the only other change, with Davor Zdravkovski coming into the midfield.
The Easter Road men had former Motherwell Academy graduates Chris and Nicky Cadden forming opposite wing backs as boss David Gray aimed to lift his side off the bottom of the league table.
Despite a bright and open start from both sides, there was little action in either box in the first 25 minutes.
A whipped cross from Maswanhise fell behind Kofi Balmer, and although his acrobatic bicycle kick sent the ball over the bar, at least it provided some encouragement for the home fans.
A minute later it was the travelling fans who were applauding as the visitors opened the scoring.
Aston Oxborough failed to cut out Nicky Cadden’s curling free kick, allowing Hoilett, at the back of the six-yard area, to nudge the ball over the goal line.
Ten minutes later, N.Cadden was presented with another free kick, this time 24 yards from goal. His low serving effort forced Oxborough across to palm the ball round his post, but the danger wasn’t over.
The resultant corner to the back post caused mayhem around the six-yard box, and although the ‘Well keeper blocked one effort, the ball bobbled in front of goal until eventually Kukharevych bundled it into the net and gave the Edinburgh men a two-goal lead.
The first half ended with ‘Well unable to mount a sustained pressure on the visitor’s goal with Jordon Smith completely untested.
A vast improvement was required in the second forty-five, particularly in the final third, and it was no surprise when the second half started with Tony Watt and Zach Robinson coming on at the expense of Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Andy Halliday.
And within five minutes, following good work on the left by Ewan Wilson, Robinson’s drive from 20 yards forced Smith into his first save.
But while ‘Well chased the game, a now confident Hibs looked threatening on the counter.
On the hour, Smith finally produced a decent save to push Robinson’s effort over his bar after Dan Casey nodded down Lennon Miller’s corner.
With 20 minutes remaining, the ‘Well boss went for broke, bringing on Moses Ebiye to go four up top with Harry Paton coming on to bolster the midfield.
Ten minutes from time, Campbell prodded the ball low past Oxborough from 12 yards.
Moses Ebiye then came within a ball’s width of reducing the leeway when his left-foot shot smacked off the face of the post, but it would have been little consolation to the Fir Park faithful.
