Hibernians got off to a solid start in the Championship Pool when they eased past Tarxien Rainbows 3-0 in a hard-fought derby at the National Stadium this afternoon.

It was the Paolites who made a fast start to the match as after only seven minutes they were already a goal ahead.

Clayton Failla delivered a cross inside the area that was deviated into the path of Rodolfo Soares who unleashed a powerful volley past Tarxien goalkeeper David Cassar.

Tarxien’s hopes were dealt a blow on 31 minutes when Andrezinho received two yellow cards in the space of a couple of minutes and was subsequently dismissed. Despite being a man down, the Rainbows kept posing a threat to the Paolites and on 64 minutes they had a perfect opportunity to draw level when they were awarded a penalty after Jonathan Pearson fouled Leandro inside the area. From the resultant penalty Mark Tanti saw his shot cannon off the upright.

Tarxien paid dearly for this miss as Hibs quickly seized the initiative. On 68 minutes Allan Kardeck, in his first appearance since rejoining Hibs, was unlucky to see his close-range header tipped onto the bar by Cassar.

Hibs finally doubled their lead on 74 minutes when from a Failla corner-kick, Jean Paul Farrugia headed the ball past Cassar.

The Paolites wrapped up the points nine minutes from time when Tarxien keeper Cassar charged out of his goal to intercept Johann Bezzina’s long pass but he completely missed the ball, thus paving the way for Failla to deposit the ball into an empty net.

Hibs winger Clayton Failla was voted as the BOV Player of the match.