Motherwell 0, Hibernian 3: Hibs bag comfortable win against toothless Steelmen

Motherwell slumped to a second successive Premiership defeat as basement side Hibernian ran out comfortable winners at Fir Park.

The Edinburgh giants were 2-0 up and cruising by half-time against a strangely toothless Motherwell, in front of their own fans.

Goals from Junior Hoilett and Mykola Kukharevych had Hibs comfortably ahead by the interval, with sub Josh Campbell adding a late third.

It was no more than the visitors deserved.

They looked hungrier to snatch up loose balls, while Motherwell offered very little up front in a strangely toothless first half.

Hoilett put Hibs on their way in 27 minutes with an unorthodox goal. Usually-reliable keeper Aston Oxborough went up for, and missed, a Nicky Cadden free kick, leaving Hoilett with a tap-in.

Kukharevych notched the second goal when Motherwell failed to deal with Nicky Cadden's free kick from the right, leaving the striker to smash the ball into the net.

Motherwell were better in the second half, with Tawanda Maswanhise unlucky not to pull a goal back, but Hibs looked more likely to add a third.

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell made two changes to the side that lost 2-1 at Ross County last weekend. Davor Zdravkovski made his first start in over a month and Tawanda Maswanhise came in for Steve Seddon and injured Tom Sparrow.

David Gray made one change to his Hibs side which drew 2-2 against Aberdeen in midweek, with Chris Cadden in for Lewis Miller.

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The opening exchanges were spent with both sides sizing each other up, but Hibs did create something decent in 15 minutes when Junior Hoilett sent Elie Youan into the box, and he was looking to pick out a team-mate when Andy Halliday stepped in brilliantly to divert the ball away from his goal.

Hibs took the lead unexpectedly in 27 minutes when Nicky Cadden's free-kick from wide on the left was missed by Oxborough, leaving Hoilett with a tap-in.

Youan went close with a header three minutes later, from a Chris Cadden cross from the right, but Oxborough saved at the far post corner.

Oxborough had to look lively to push Nicky Cadden's free-kick away from the bottom right corner in 37 minutes, from just outside the box.

But the resulting corner ended in a stramash inside the box, with Kukharevych ramming into the net.

Hibs came out flying for the second half, looking to kill the game completely, but were unable to add to their tally, Nicky Cadden hitting the left side-netting the closest they went.

Motherwell tried to get back into the game and Marvin Kaleta had a low shot saved by Jordan Smith in 50 minutes.

Maswanhise had a close-range shot tipped brilliantly over the bar in 60 minutes from a Lennon Miller corner on the right.

But Hibs added their third in 81 minutes when a sweeping move was ended by sub Campbell smashing into the bottom right corner.

Kaleta and sub Moses Ebiye linked well in 87 minutes, with the latter's shot clipping the right post and bouncing away from the goal.

Nicky Cadden had a free kick well saved at the death.

MOTHERWELL: Oxborough, Kaleta, Casey, Gordon, Balmer (Ebiye, 72), Wilson (Seddon, 82), Zdravkovski (Paton, 72), Halliday (Watt, 46), Miller, Maswanhise, Stamatelopoulos (Robinson, 46)

Subs (not used): Hegyi (GK), Blaney, Koutroumbis, Gillies

HIBERNIAN: Smith, O'Hara, Bushiri, Iredale, C. Cadden (Miller, 89), Triantis, Newell (Kwon, 82), N. Cadden, Hoilett (Campbell, 69), Kukharevych (Gayle, 69), Youan (Boyle, 82)

Subs (not used): Bursik (GK), Miller, Levitt, Doyle-Hayes, Molotnikov

Booked: N. Cadden (79)

Referee: Grant Irvine

Attendance: 5217

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