Hibernians broke little sweat to see off Ħamrun Spartans 4-1 in a one-sided encounter at the Tedesco Stadium.

The Paolites took just 10 minutes to break the stalemate.

Jurgen Degabriele latched on to Bjorn Kristensen’s pass and raced past Mark Borg before hitting a firm drive past the onrushing David Cassar, the Ħamrun goalkeeper.

Hibs continued to create chances and on 15 minutes Andrei Agius latched onto Clayton Failla’s delivery from a corner kick but his firm header came off the bar.

Ħamrun were the architects of their own downfall for the second goal as on 19 minutes a miscommunication between goalkeeper Cassar and Raphael paved the way for Bjorn Kristensen to prod the ball into an empty net.

Hibs were clearly on top and on 27 minutes Cohen’s through ball put Degabriele clear but the young striker was denied by an acrobatic save by Cassar.

Degabriele again beat the Spartans’ offside trap on 40 minutes but the Malta U-21 striker was anticipated by Cassar, who rushed out of his goal to clear.

The Paolites added a third goal on the stroke of half-time when Philip Chircop fouled Renan Telles inside the area and Clayton Failla made no mistake from the resultant penalty.

Ħamrun pulled a goal back on 54 minutes when from a free-kick action, Jake Grech’s swerving shot was deflected past a diving Andrew Hogg.

Hibs sealed the points with a fourth goal a minute from time when Johann Bezzina was upended in the area by Cassar and Andrew Cohen made no mistake from the spot.

Hibs midfielder Bjorn Kristensen was voted the BOV Player of the match.