Kilmarnock 1 – 3 Hibernian

Elie Youan scored twice as Hibernian claimed a 3-1 victory over troubled Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership at Rugby Park.

The Hibees took the lead after five minutes when Youan headed home, but they then wasted a number of opportunities and paid the price just before the hour mark as Tyreece John-Jules marked his new Kilmarnock deal by netting an equaliser.

However, Youan restored Hibs’ advantage when he steered the ball into the net after home goalkeeper Tobi Oluwayemi had denied Jamie McGrath.

Further misery followed for the hosts when David Watson was shown a red card with eight minutes left, before McGrath tucked away a penalty in stoppage time.

Kilmarnock remain second bottom, four points above basement side Livingston, while fifth-placed Hibs are now just four points behind Celtic in second spot.

The deadlock was broken with the first attack of the game. Daniel Barlaser’s delivery to the back post was perfect for the unmarked Youan to glance the ball back across goal and into the bottom corner.

Barlaser was proving a constant threat from set-piece situations and, in the 11th minute, it required a smart stop from Oluwayemi to turn the Englishman’s wicked free-kick away for a corner.

It was all one-way traffic towards the home goal and Junior Hoilett sent a powerful effort just wide before Kanayo Megwa’s strike was comfortably held by the keeper.

The visitors should have doubled their advantage with seven minutes left in the first half. A wonderful intricate passing move sliced open the Killie defence but Youan fired wide with the goal at his mercy.

John-Jules had a rare sighting of goal for the hosts two minutes before the break, though his shot was blocked by Hibs defender Warren O’Hara.

The Rugby Park men were in desperate need of a response, and there was some early promise as David Watson’s shot was deflected behind in the opening minute of the second half.

The leveller then arrived in the 57th minute. Dominic Thompson’s cross was not dealt with by the Hibs defence, and John-Jules got the better of Grant Hanley before prodding the ball to beyond Raphael Sallinger.

Killie had Oluwayemi to thank with 20 minutes remaining when he produced a remarkable save to keep out Barlaser’s stinging free-kick.

However, Hibs restored their advantage just one minute later. Oluwayemi could only turn McGrath’s effort into the path of Youan, who was perfectly poised to flick the ball home.

The home side were reduced to 10 men after 82 minutes when Watson caught Barlaser with a nasty looking tackle. Referee David Dickinson showed little sign of hesitation as he flashed a red card the way of the midfielder.

In the first minute of stoppage time, McGrath was taken down by Thomson before dusting himself down to coolly send the keeper the wrong way from the resulting spot-kick and seal the points for Hibs.

What the managers said

Hibernian boss David Gray: “It’s been a really good week. I think over the piece we deserved it, it’s a massive three points and a massive nine points over the course of the week – it’s everything you’d have hoped for,” Gray said.

“This is a really difficult place for us, I think it’s 2020 that we last came here and won.

“I thought we started really well, on the front foot, moved the ball well, some really good passages of play on a difficult surface – real control in the game and we thoroughly deserved to be in front.

“Our quality dropped in the second half. Some of that was down to Kilmarnock, they had a bit of a reaction and were more aggressive, but massive credit to the players for finding a way to make sure they found a way to get the three points.”

Kilmarnock interim boss Kris Doolan: “I think we started the second half the way we want to start games. In the first half, I didn’t feel like we laid a glove on Hibs.

“It was just unfortunate we couldn’t capitalise on the fact that we got ourselves back in the game, but we showed a lot of character to get us back in the game.”

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