THIS was a staging post in Hibernian's season. A weekend that started and finished with the Edinburgh club booking a place in the League Cup final quickly gave way to a fixture which Alan Stubbs declared was more important than this weekend's Scottish Cup fifth round tie against bitter rivals Hearts.

For long periods at Cappielow, it appeared that Hibs were preoccupied by the thought that anything less than a win against Morton would consign their league ambitions to the dustbin. Stubbs gambled it must be said, refreshing his starting line-up with four faces which had not been seen against St Johnstone in the League Cup semi-final three days earlier. One of those new arrivals, Anthony Stokes, proved the difference as his deft finish, when he appeared to have fluffed his lines, won the day and ensured that Rangers lead at the top remains at eight points.

The on-loan Celtic striker took three touches to find a way past the hitherto impassable Derek Gaston two minutes after half-time. It was a goal all of Morton's making, though. Having kept Hibs under a lid for the first half, they opened the door in catastrophic fashion. Lee Kilday attempted a straightforward pass into midfield but succeeded only in feeding the ball to John McGinn, impressive throughout for Hibernian, and the former St Mirren midfielder slid a precise pass to Stokes who did the rest.

It was a rare moment of quality on a difficult night at Cappielow, something Stubbs was quick to recognise.

“Anthony Stokes’ contribution was there for all to see,” said the Hibs manager. “The 70 minutes or so will do a huge amount towards his fitness. He will get better and better for us – there is no denying that.

“For the amount of possession we had we were a bit over-elaborate at times. It should have been more comfortable. It wasn’t but it was another win and a clean sheet.

“But I knew this was going to be a difficult game for us. We saw it against the other team, shall we say, that it’s not an easy place to come. Morton worked really hard and they close you and press you well. But we come away with the three points.

“This was the biggest banana skin. As far as some people are concerned we had two games this week, Saturday against St Johnstone and Sunday against Hearts. But this was the most important because it’s a league game and we wanted to keep momentum going and not let the gap get any bigger. We have achieved that,” added Stubbs, who lost Liam Fontaine after 12 minutes but appeared happy that the player would not be a serious injury doubt for Sunday.

The adverse weather meant it was not a night conducive to flowing football and chances were at a premium although Gaston produced a superb first-half stop to deny a James Keatings header. Nevertheless, Morton gave a good account of themselves, something their manager Jim Duffy was pleased with despite a run of home defeats that now stretches to four games.

“Hibs are a fantastic side and they have a great depth of quality in their squad,” said Duffy. “We knew it was going to be hard but Derek Gaston has only had one save to make in the 90 minutes from a James Keatings header. It was a fantastic save. We worked really hard but we didn’t work Mark Oxley and our final ball once again has haunted us.”