Hibs 2 Livingston 1

Two more goals in from James Keatings took Hibs to within two points of Rangers at the top of the Championship table last night as they extended their recent runs with an eighth successive win which made it 14 matches since they suffered a defeat in any competition.

The first was largely down to a classy piece of play by John McGinn as he gathered the ball in the penalty area, made to head out of it, then played the sweetest of reverse passes through a defender’s legs and into the path of Keatings who drilled it pretty much through Marc McCallum with his left foot.

The second, however - his fifth in two matches after his hat-trick against St Mirren - was pretty much all his own work as he received the ball on the edge of the box, shifted it onto that left foot once again and left McCallum flailing as the ball soared past him to his right.

They made the closing moments hard for themselves after switching off to let substitute Liam Buchanan latch onto what had been a highly speculative up-and-under in behind the Hibs defence and pull it back into the path of fellow substitute Jordyn Sheerin who clipped it sweetly from 16 yards out, the ball curving beyond Mark Oxley’s right hand.

However for all that he acknowledged it was not their best performance overall and that they had made mistakes in their game management in the closing stages Alan Stubbs, their manager, expressed satisfaction at the outcome.

“I said at half-time we had to be patient and we were going after it a bit too much, but we’ve won the game and that was the most important priority,” he said.

Hibs had looked every bit the form side they have been in the early stages, lots of eager running off the ball and some crisp early passing asking questions of defenders as they sought to get men in behind their opponents both down the left flank in particular and through the middle.

Jason Cummings was unlucky not to open the scoring when a route one clearance was flicked into his path and he rounded the keeper, only for the ball to slide off his left foot just wide, while Keatings set up a good chance for the lively Martin Boyle whose shot was blocked and he, in turn, teed up Liam Henderson late in the half, his effort from an acute angle well blocked by McCallum.

Hibs’ eagerness to get forward also presented their visitors with chances to get at them and they showed some willingness to do so, their best chance falling to Ross Millen who found himself 12 yards out in splendid isolation but took slightly too long, allowing Darren McGregor to close down his space.

Hibs survived some anxious moments soon after the break, too, Oxley having to dive to his left to parry a well struck shot from Scott Pittman; Jordan White strenuously claiming he had been pulled back by Liam Fontaine and should have had a penalty when set to turn the ball in at point blank range, Mark Burchill, Livingston’s manager, subsequently agreeing “100 per cent”; then Oxley having to block a Hippolyte shot as he was allowed to turn and make room for himself inside the box.

However their anxiety was eased when McGinn produced that lovely piece of skill to put Keatings in for the opener.

They were denied a chance of a second soon after when Cummings was hacked down on the edge of the penalty area by Ben Gordon who earned a yellow card for the challenge, but referee Craig Thomson somehow deciding Hibs had sufficient opportunity to capitalise when the ball had fallen to Keatings wide on the right.

As they began to dominate McCallum pulled off a fine double save from Keatings and, as he latched onto the rebound, Cummings who also put a free header wide soon after and McGinn drew another fine save from the Livingston ‘keeper after a fine first touch took the ball into space and perfectly onto his right foot 10 yards out.

However all doubt regarding the outcome was removed by that second Keatings strike in 69 minutes and Hibs cruised through most of the closing 20 minutes until giving themselves that late fright.

Hibs: (4-4-2) M Oxley, D Gray, D McGregor, L Fontaine, L Stevenson, M Boyle (D MCGeough 52), F Fyvie, L Henderson (M Bartley 75), J McGinn, J Keatings, J Cummings

Livingston: (4-4-1-1) M McCallum, M Neill, D Gallagher, B Gordon, J Longridge, R Millen, K Gibbons, H Faria (S Georgiev 82), M Hippolyte (L Buchanan 68), S Pitman, J White (J Sheerin 82)