Hibernians 1
Cohen 79
Ħamrun Spartans 0
Andrew Cohen was the toast of Hibernians yesterday as the Malta forward provided the killer touch to down a resolute Ħamrun Spartans side in a hard-fought encounter.
It was far from plainsailing for the Paolites, however. They had to contend with a determined Spartans side who came into this match on a high after successive victories over Sliema and Marsaxlokk.
The Spartans looked the better team at first but Hibs came more into the picture as the minutes ticked away. Their pressure was finally rewarded with Cohen's winner 11 minutes from time. Victory put the Paolites back on top, two points clear of Valletta who, however, have a game in hand.
Hibs coach Mark Miller was forced to make two changes from the team that went down to Valletta on Wednesday as chief scorer Terrence Scerri and midfielder Christian Callejas were ruled out through suspension. Jean Paul Farrugia and Cohen started the match. On the plus side, Bulgarian Rumen Galabov was declared fit after suffering a hamstring injury in midweek.
Steve D'Amato, the Ħamrun coach, welcomed Rupert Mangion back in the fray but defender Roderick Fenech was out through suspension.
Aaron Attard took the right-back role as Florin Martin was moved in the central position vacated by Fenech. Steve Meilaq was deployed at left-back as Mark Anthony Bonnici started on the bench.
Hibs created the first scoring opportunity after seven minutes. Cohen was first to Clayton Failla's free-kick but his header flew over.
The Paolites threatened again soon after. Failla delivered another free-kick into the box and this time it was Farrugia who connected with the ball but his header was too central to trouble Ivan Casha.
However, it was Mario Muscat, the Hibs keeper, who effected the first real save of the afternoon on 19 minutes when he smothered away Sylvano Comvalius's shot from a free-kick.
Three minutes later Manolito Micallef put Cucciardi through but the latter's grounder was stopped by Muscat.
Cohen, then, almost struck when he surprised Casha, who was slightly out of position, but his effort brushed the upright.
The match was evenly poised with the Spartans holding an edge in terms of possession and Miller's men always dangerous with fast breaks.
In first-half stoppage time Farrugia should have put Hibs ahead. The young forward had time and space to connect to Failla's corner but incredibly headed over.
Hibs started strongly after the break and after barely two minutes Cohen sped down the right before serving Mbongo who nodded just wide.
Two minutes before the hour Miller made his first change when he replaced the tiring Jonathan Pearson with another promising youngster, Leighton Grech.
The Spartans were running out of ideas and Hibs slowly grew in stature. On 65 minutes, D'Amato replaced veteran Sultana with Gaetan Spiteri.
Ryan Fenech almost had the better of Muscat when forcing the Hibs no.1 into a fine diving save from a free-kick.
D'Amato was then compelled to make his second change when Micallef limped off. He was replaced by Lee James Agius.
On 74 minutes, Failla sent an inviting ball into the Spartans' box but Caruana's header was easily dealt with by Casha.
The Paolites were now pressing on the accelerator and Casha kept his side in it with a spectacular save from Failla's piledriver.
Hibs finally broke the deadlock on 79 minutes. The Spartans partially cleared Failla's corner, the ball fell to Herrera and his attempted volley was deviated into the net by the alert Cohen.
Mbongo almost struck again for Hibs soon after when he profited from some poor positioning by the Spartans defence but the Cameroon midfielder fired his shot out of range.
Hibernians
M. Muscat-6.5, J. Caruana-6.5, E. Herrera-6, A. Pulis-6, A. Xuereb-6, C. Failla-6, A. Cohen-7, J. Pearson-5 ('58 L. Grech-5), A. Mbongo-6.5, J.P. Farrugia-6, R. Galabov-6.
Ħamrun Spartans
I. Casha-6, D.A. Cucciardi-6, Z. Levniac-6, A. Attard-5, S. Comvalius-5.5, S. Meilak-5, R. Fenech-6.5, S. Sultana-6 ('65 G. Spiteri-5), R. Mangion-6, F. Anton-6, M. Micallef-5.5 ('71 L.J. Agius).
Referee: Marco Borg.
Yellow cards: Sultana; Galabov; Pulis; Cohen; Mangion.
BoV player of the match: Andrew Cohen (Hibernians).