Simon Murray: Striker joins South Africans Bidvest Wits from Hibernian

Simon Murray, right, scored the winning goal as Hibernian won the first Edinburgh derby of last season

Simon Murray has joined South African top-flight side Bidvest Wits from Hibernian.

The striker, 26, moved to Easter Road from Dundee United last summer and had a year remaining on his contract.

Murray made 29 Hibs appearances, scoring 14 goals, including a winning strike against Edinburgh rivals Hearts.

He spent the latter half of last term on loan at Scottish Premiership counterparts Dundee, netting three goals in 14 outings.

Bidvest Wits won the South African Premier Division in 2017, but finished last term 13th in the 16-team league.

Murray began his stint with Neil Lennon's newly-promoted Hibs in style, racking up 10 goals in his first seven matches, albeit eight of those strikes came against lower-league opposition in the Scottish League Cup.

He scored in an early-season win over Rangers at Ibrox, and bagged the only goal of the first Edinburgh derby of the campaign in October.

However, Murray had found the net just three times in 13 matches before being loaned to Dundee in a January move that allowed Scott Allan, the Celtic midfielder on loan at Dens Park, to come to Easter Road.

His final Hibs outing came in the 6-1 thrashing of NSI Runavik in the Europa League first qualifying round first leg in Leith.

It leaves Lennon with only two first-team strikers - Florian Kamberi and Oli Shaw, as well as seldom-used 21-year-old Lewis Allan - for Thursday's second-round visit of Greek side Asteras Tripolis.