Myziane Maolida and substitute Dylan Levitt struck in the second half as Hibernian defeated relegation-threatened Ross County 2-0 at Easter Road to climb into the top six of the cinch Premiership.
The home support had to be patient as County kept them at bay until a mistake from goalkeeper George Wickens gifted them the opener just before the hour mark.
The victory extended Hibs’ unbeaten run in all competitions to five games and allowed them to move above Dundee and back into the top half of the table. County remain second bottom, six points clear of last-placed Livingston.
Hibs boss Nick Montgomery named the same side that started Wednesday’s 1-1 draw away to city rivals Hearts.
There were two changes to the County team that started Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at home to St Mirren as James Brown and Jack Baldwin replaced Loick Ayina and Simon Murray.
Despite their lowly league position, the Staggies settled well into the match and kept their hosts at arm’s length early on.
The only time they looked in any real danger in the first half was in the 17th minute when Wickens had to make an impressive double save to deny Maolida and then Emiliano Marcondes.
At the other end, midfielder Victor Loturi created an opportunity for himself in the 25th minute when he intercepted a slack pass from Marcondes inside the centre circle and surged forward towards the edge of the box but his shot was beaten away by goalkeeper David Marshall.
Hibs made a change for the start of the second half as Levitt came on for Nathan Moriah-Welsh in central midfield.
Within a minute of the restart, the Edinburgh side almost went ahead when Maolida slipped a pass into the box and Marcondes sent a low shot towards goal from 10 yards but Wickens was equal to it.
The hosts fashioned another opening when Martin Boyle – after being released down the right by Lewis Miller – cut the ball back perfectly for Dylan Vente but the forward chose to dummy it on the edge of the six-yard box and the opportunity was gone.
Another delivery from the right led to the deadlock being broken in the 59th minute. Vente ran on to a pass from Levitt and whipped in a low cross that was spilled on the edge of the six-yard box by Wickens and Maolida reacted quickest to poke home the loose ball for his fourth goal since arriving from Hertha Berlin in January.
County almost equalised in the 71st minute when Brandon Khela’s ball in from the left found Eamonn Brophy in a central position seven yards out but the striker’s effort was brilliantly kept out by Marshall.
Levitt sealed the win in the 86th minute when he received a pass from fellow substitute Elie Youan just outside the box, advanced towards goal and slotted low past Wickens from 13 yards.
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
