Naxxar Lions 0
Hibernians 7
Lima 13; Jorginho 30; Gilmar 46; Jorge 62; Degabriele 70, 75; Cohen 90;

Hibernians broke little sweat to brush aside the feeble challenge of Naxxar Lions in a one-sided encounter as the scoreline clearly indicates.

It was another convincing performance from the champions who seem to be reaching peak form after an indifferent start to the season.

The Paolites were streets ahead of the Lions as, inspired by the speed and power of their attacking trio of Jorge, Jorginho and Gilmar, they tore apart their opponents to register a fourth successive victory. More importantly, Hibs rejoined Valletta at the top of the table.

Hibernians showed one change from the team that beat Floriana in midweek as Gilmar came at the expense of Jonathan Pearson.

The Brazilian, formerly of Naxxar, took a central midfield role alongside Andrew Cohen with Clayton Failla playing on the right of a three-man defence alongside Andrei Agius and Rui Da Gracia Gomes.

Naxxar coach Clive Mizzi was boosted by the return from suspension of skipper Angus Buhagiar and Moises Gnenegbe.

David Fenech was given a starting berth in lieu of Jurgen Debono who was among the substitutes.

Hibs were almost gifted an opener after three minutes when Gilmar pounced on some hesitant Blazo Rajovic defending but he was denied by a timely tackle from Ishmael Grech as he was about to pull the trigger.

However, the Paolites did not have to wait too long as on 13 minutes Andrew Cohen’s cross found Jackson Lima at the far post and he placed the ball behind keeper Julian Azzopardi.

Hibs almost made it 2-0 ten minutes later. Jorginho showed great speed to turn past his marker and hit a firm drive that was palmed away by the diving Azzopardi.

Naxxar were clearly struggling and on the half hour Hibs extended their advantage.

Gilmar outmuscled his marker to burst through before squaring the ball towards the unmarked Jorginho who stabbed the ball inside an empty net.

On the restart, Clive Mizzi effected a double change as Daren Falzon and Debono replaced David Fenech and Grech respectively. However, the changes had little time to leave an impact as Hibs soon added a third goal.

Jorge’s shot was half-parried by Azzopardi, the ball rolled into the path of Gilmar who drove home from close in.

The Paolites almost added a fourth when Dias powered his way into the penalty area but his effort was stopped by Azzopardi’s outstretched foot.

It was all Hibs now. Three minutes later they were awarded a central free-kick but Jorginho’s piledriver came off the upright.

More woes followed for Naxxar on 62 minutes when Azzopardi palmed Failla’s cross against the crossbar and in charged Jorge to bury the rebound into the net.

That turned out to be his last contribution of the match as he was replaced by Jurgen Degabriele.

Demba Toure had a good chance to pull a goal back when the Senegalese was played in by Mandinho but he skied his effort with only goalkeeper Jurgen Borg to beat.

Degabriele also left his mark on 70 minutes when the young striker ran to meet Denni’s throughball and he kept his cool to slot the ball past Azzopardi.

The Hibs substitute was not finished yet as five minutes later he struck again. This time Degabriele ran to meet Gilmar’s pass and cooly despatched his shot past Azzo-pardi.

The Hibs forward almost completed his hat-trick two minutes from time when he again raced clear but this time was denied by the Naxxar keeper.

The Paolites rounded up the score in time added on when Cohen raced into the area and beat the keeper with a low drive.

Naxxar Lions
J. Azzopardi-4, B. Rajovic-4, M. Gne-negbe-4, R. Cardozo-5 (75 M. Fenech), T. Sarina-5, D. Toure-5, J. Godar-5, I. Grech-5 (46 J. Debono-5), D. Fenech-5 (46 D. Falzon-5), A. Buhagiar-5, Mandinho-5.5.

Hibernians
J. Borg-6, R. Da Gracia Gomes-6, J. Lima-6.5, M. Dias-6, A. Cohen-6, B. Kristensen-6.5 (65 Denni-5.5), C. Failla-7, A. Agius-6.5, Jorginho-7 (78 J.P. Farrugia), Gilmar-8, Jorge-6.5 (63 J. Degabriele-7).

Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.

BOV player of the match: Gilmar (Hibernians).

Attendance: 958.

Standings