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A sharp second-half display ensured Logan Jimenez and his Hibernian U19 team-mates picked up all three points with a professional 3-0 victory against Motherwell at a rain-soaked Dalziel Park.
After a frustrating, goalless opening hour, Hibs captain Josh McDonald broke the deadlock before Callum MacDonald and a second from McDonald wrapped up a dominant performance.
Head coach Darren McGregor named an unchanged starting line-up following last week’s clash with Kilmarnock, with Adam Buckley returning to the bench in place of Layton Williams.
The visitors created the first opening of a cagey first half when Joshua Radcliffe tested 'Well keeper Lewis McGahey from 25 yards. Motherwell responded immediately, with Hibs goalkeeper Ellis McGurk getting down low to tip Guy Bainbridge’s arrowed strike wide.
Hibs continued to threaten before the break, as McDonald tried a 40-yard lob on the slick surface, while Lewis McNeill forced a save from a header, but the sides went into the interval level.
The turning point came on the hour mark when Jackson Thomson’s cross was parried by McGahey into the path of McDonald, who turned home the rebound from close range.
Hibs doubled their lead eight minutes later. MacDonald dispossessed the last defender, kept his composure under challenge, and drove a low finish beneath McGahey.
Jimenez came close to adding a third shortly after, thrashing a shot just over the bar, before his glancing header clipped the crossbar in the 72nd minute. The rebound fell to the unmarked McDonald at the far post, who smashed home his second of the afternoon.
McDonald was denied a hat-trick late on by a desperate block, but Hibs held firm to secure a clean sheet and cap off an impressive away performance in North Lanarkshire.
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