HIBERNIANS 3

Moreira 16; Degabriele 19, 70.

XEWKIJA TIGERS 0

Hibernians booked an easy passage to the quarter-finals with a 3-0 win over Xewkija.

Past the first quarter of the hour mark, Hibs carved out a menacing move which have yielded an opening goal.

Joseph Mbong did all the hard work on the right flank and delivered an inviting cross towards Joao Moreira who headed the ball behind Franklin Vella, the Xewkija goalkeeper.

The stage seemed set for a dominant Hibs display when Jurgen Degabriele arrowed his rising shot into the top corner after receiving from Mbong.

Shy the half hour mark, Hibs were forced to play the rest of the match with numerical inferiority as Moreira was sent off for an innocuous-looking push on Manwel Xerri.

Xewkija took some time to effect a reaction but when they did Thiago Dos Santos all alone elected to dally with the ball as Andrei Agius blocked him in a corner. 

Shaun Bajada was through on a fast break soon after the interval but his final effort was deflected again to a corner by the indomitable Agius.

Another open chance fell to Milos Stojanovic from the ensuing corner, with only Briffa to beat, he shot straight at Bjorn Kristensen.

If Xewkija harboured any hopes of staging a comeback, these were soon dismissed as Hibs added a third goal to emerge runaway winners.

A prolonged moved had substitute Clayton Failla bypassing his opponent on the right before squaring the ball for Degabriele who surged past a lifeless defence and blasted shot that beat Vella.

In the closing minutes, Xewkija poured forward in search of a consolation and they had three goals disallowed for offside with Thiago dos Santos twice and Stojanovic.