Qormi 0
Hibernians 6
Jorginho 35, 50, 57; Edison 74, 76; Failla 87;
Hibs maintained their march at the top of the Premier League as they produced another devastating attacking display to brush aside Qormi.
The attacking tandem of Jorginho and Luis Edison again were the chief architects of Hibs’ 12th victory of the season with the former hitting a hat-trick and Edison cementing his place at the top of the scorers’ list with a late double.
Qormi did try to take the fight to Hibs and had done well for most of the first half. But once Jorginho put his team ahead there was no way back for the Yellows who were totally outplayed.
Branko Nisevic, the Hibs coach, kept faith with the same players that tore Floriana apart last week but Josef Mansueto, the Qormi coach, made wholesale changes as he brought in five new players from the team that was held to a 1-1 draw by Naxxar last week.
Roderick Sammut, Pietro Viggiani, Steve Agius, Anderson and Ryan Micallef were all drafted into the starting formation. Albert Bruce, Bjorn Bondin, Joseph Chetcuti and Emerson Vella were dropped to the bench while Mauricio Mazzetti was serving aone-match ban.
Qormi created the first scoring opportunity when Anderson picked Frank Temile but the Nigerian hit wide from a good position.
Hibs’ response arrived when Andrew Cohen backheeled a pass into the path of Jorginho who fired over from routine distance.
Two minutes later, Marcelo Dias powered into the box before sending a low cross across the face of goal where Clayton Failla mistimed his shot.
On 21 minutes, Nisevic was forced to make his first change when Joseph Mbong came on for the limping Dias.
Mansueto’s three-pronged attack, composed of Alfred Effiong, Temile and Micallef, was forcing the Paolites to adopt a more cautious approach when pushing forward but Hibs finally drew first blood on 35 minutes when Jorginho burst his way into the box before planting his shot past Farrugia.
The goal spurred the Paolites to push more men forward and a minute later Farrugia was alert to keep out Failla’s drive.
Qormi threatened five minutes from the break when Effiong moved past two defenders but was denied by onrushing keeper Henry Bonello.
On the stroke of half-time, Failla’s cross sailed into the path of Edison who stabbed his effort against the upright.
Hibs continued where they left off after the restart and doubled the lead on 50 minutes when Mbong released Jorginho who sped into the area before hitting past Farrugia.
The Paolites were clearly on top now. Edison released Jorginho who returned the pass to his team-mate whose low shot came off the post.
But Hibs all but wrapped up the points a few minutes later when, from a Cohen corner, Jorginho anticipated his marker to head home.
Qormi were nowhere to be seen and on 63 minutes Failla sprinted into the area and let fly a fierce drive that cannoned off the crossbar.
Hibs added a fourth goal 16 minutes from time when Mbong broke free on the right before sending a low cross towards Edison who tapped the ball into an empty net.
Edison struck again two minutes later when he moved past his marker before chipping the ball over Farrugia.
Hibs had time to add a sixth three minutes from time when Failla scored with an angled drive.
Qormi
M. Farrugia-4, R. Sammut-5, P. Viggiani-5, S. Agius-5, A. Effiong-5 (79 B. Bondin), F. Temile-5 (68 C. Farrugia-4), R. Micallef-5, Z. Levnaic-5 (65 A. Bruce-4), D. Pisani-5, J. Bondin-5, Anderson-5.
Hibernians
H. Bonello-6, R. De Gracia Gomes-6, R. Soares-6.5, M. Dias (21 J. Mbong-6.5), A. Cohen-6 (61 J. Lima-6), B. Kristensen-7, C. Failla-7, J. Bezzina-6.5, A. Agius-6.5, L. Edison-7, Jorginho-8 (75 J. Degabriele).
Referee: Marco Borg.
Yellow cards: Mbong; Bruce; Failla.
BOV player of the match: Jorginho (Hibernians).