Żebbuġ Rangers 0 Hibernians 4

Hibernians were back to their vintage this afternoon with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Żebbuġ Rangers.

Despite an ultra-defensive approach, Żebbuġ’s goal was breach after seven minutes. A moment of wizardry from Jorginho proved to be the Rangers’ undoing as the Brazilian striker muscled his way inside the area from the left flank and smacked a low shot which Yessous Camilleri only managed to repel and Andrew Cohen flashed in to tap home from the rebound.

On 27 minutes, Luis Edison surged forward on a solo run, dodging the luckless Ratko Mandic who was promptly flattened by the in-rushing Gauci to leave both Żebbuġ defenders in a heap. The Brazilian nodded the ball through for Jorginho who was left completely alone only to shot into Fabricio’s hands.

A powerful run from Failla, five minutes from half-time, caused anxiety in the Żebbuġ defence as the ball reached Jorginho whose header finished just wide.

Any resistance from Żebbuġ was extinguished as Hibernians tore out of the blocks at the start second with Failla adding to Hibernians’ lead with a beautiful goal, Dias playing a one-two with Edison before the Malta winger hitting his partner’s pin-point pass hard into Fabricio’s right-hand corner.

When Mandic capitalised on a bad clearance by Soares, danger lurked for Hibernians on the hour mark, as the winger tried to glide past Henry Bonello, the Hibernians goalkeeper but he dragged his shot wide.

With Dias and Edison dictating matters from midfield, Hibernians continued to unsettle the opposing defence when the former got behind the backtracking defence before shooting low into the net.

Nineteen minutes from time, Edison got in on the scoring act when prodding the ball in from close range after Failla’s cross.