Tranent 1-4 Thornton Hibs

There was a slight hiccup in their preparations as Jimmy Shields pulled up in the warm-up and had to be replaced by the veteran defender, Ian Shanks, who never put a foot wrong all afternoon.

The Hibs led after six minutes when Chris Ireland rose to head home Daniel McNab’s deep cross. It was almost all-square just four minutes later but Andy Adam was well positioned to clear the ball off the line following a Tranent corner kick.

Adam Drummond doubled the visitors’ lead on the half-hour mark with another header, with Garry Thomson provided the assist on this occasion. Three minutes later, Daniel McNab, ran clear but after rounding Peter Horne, he shot wide of the target.

The second half was barely 60 seconds old when Kayne Paterson’s low cross was converted by Ian Smith to reduce the Hibs’ lead to one, but Andy Adam restored the two-goal advantage in the 62nd minute when his superbly taken free-kick found its way into Horne’s top right corner.

Four minutes later Horne made a great save to deny McNab, who was desperate to celebrate his 100th appearance for the club with a goal.

The referee sent Ben Anthony off for high-kicking even though he was making a genuine attempt to flick the ball over his head, unaware that the Tranent defender was going to try to head the ball clear. Even Anthony’s opponent advised afterwards that he’d been bemused by referee McGregor’s decision.

Thornton didn’t allow this setback to disturb their rhythm with Thomson going on to complete the scoring in the 82nd minute.

Thornton Hibs: Roberts, M.Robertson, McMillan, S.Drummond, Shanks, Coleman, McNab, A.Drummond, Ireland, Thomson, Adam. Subs: Anthony, Crichton, Watson.