Junior Hoilett's strike sent Hibs on their way to a priceless winSNS

Junior Hoilett's strike sent Hibs on their way to a priceless win

Adam Binnie
BBC Sport Scotland

"Excellent" Hibernian comfortably beat Motherwell to move off the foot of the Scottish Premiership with a first victory in 10 matches.

Goals from Junior Hoilett, Mykola Kuharevich and Josh Campbell backed up Tuesday's dramatic 3-3 draw with Aberdeen to ease the pressure on head coach David Gray.

Hibs are now three points above Edinburgh rivals Hearts, who host Aberdeen on Sunday, while Motherwell remain fifth.

"I thought the players were excellent. You don't always get what you deserve in football but we did today," said Gray.

"Defensively, that's as strong as we've looked, right across the board. I think this is one of the first times this season where I'm not talking about individual errors."

Hoilett knocked in Nicky Cadden's deep cross to open the scoring after 26 minutes when Motherwell goalkeeper Aston Oxborough came for the ball and missed it.

Kuharevich added the second before half-time when he poked the ball into the net from close range amid a goalmouth scramble.

The visitors started the second half in similarly imposing fashion with Kuharevich, Nectarios Triantis and Nicky Cadden all passing up opportunities.

On the hour, Hibs goalkeeper Jordan Smith - who was the subject of criticism for his performance in midweek - produced a smart save to deny an overhead flick from Motherwell's Zach Robinson.

Hibs then killed the game with 10 minutes to play when substitute Campbell slammed in a third goal after latching on to Dwight Gayle's headed lay-off.

Toothless Motherwell fail to threaten

It took Motherwell 49 minutes for the hosts to register their first shot on target, one of only two they mustered in the match.

Stuart Kettlewell tried nearly every attacking combination available to him, bringing on Tony Watt and Robinson at half-time before introducing Moses Ebiye later on.

Motherwell had no issue progressing the ball into the final third but looked devoid of ideas when they arrived there.

The attacking players were wasteful, the midfield lacked inspiration and the wide men were restricted to hopeful deep crosses into the box.

Perhaps the manager's greatest frustration will be that his side failed to test Smith in the opposition goal after his errors in midweek.

A turning point for Hibs?

David Gray said before this match that he wanted Tuesday's late equaliser to be a "turning point" in Hibs' season.

Well, it just might be. From the first minute, they were on the front foot, engaging in wave after wave of attack.

This looked like a Hibs side playing with confidence. The Cadden brothers, Hoilett and Elie Youan provided a constant attacking threat, with Motherwell struggling to deal with their pace, variety and quality of delivery in the final third.

After a winless run of nine matches, head coach Gray was understandably under a lot of pressure. However, the board stuck by him and it looks as though the players back him too.

After Campbell's goal, some players ran over to celebrate with the Gray and his coaching staff in the dugout, a sign that things are maybe starting to turn?

What they said

'One of our worst performances' - Kettlewell

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell: "Very simply, we didn't see it coming.

"Again we've conceded three amateurish goals and we didn't carry a threat at all at the top end of the pitch.

"That goes up there as arguably one of the worst performances and worst reactions to going behind in a game of football."

Hibernian head coach David Gray: "The challenge was to use Tuesday, and the momentum from that, as a turning point in the season.

"There's been so much criticism but Jordan [Smith] used his experience today. Anything he was asked to do, he did nice and clean."

'We need to build on this' - Gray

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