Rampant Hibernians hit eight past helpless Kerċem Ajax to reach Last Eight

HIBERNIANS 8

Grech 11, 74; Degabriele 15

Diakete 23; Thaylor 40

Muritala 54; Vella 67; Morillas 80

KERCEM AJAX 0

HIBERNIANS

M.Jovicic, B. Gonzalo, Thaylor (72 M. Ellul), J. Grech, J. Degabriele (46 O. Muritala), D. Vella, Z. Grech, J. Florencio (57 J.Zerafa), A. Agius (46 B. Kristensen), G. Artiles (57 J. Morillas), A. Diakete.

KERĊEM AJAX

D. Spiteri, D. Cassar, L. Motta Santana, D. Hili, J. Theuma (C. Attard), B. Da Cruz, O. Rolovic, P. Vinicius, A. Mizzi, K. Formosa, S. Azzopardi.

Referee: Daniel Casha.

Yellow card: Azzopardi.

Hibernians cruised into the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy in style as they hit eight past Kerċem in their last-16 second leg.

Four first-half goals in 29 minutes set the Paolites on their way as they ripped apart a woeful Kerċem team.

After registering the biggest victory in Round 32 of the competition when thrashing Attard 8-2, many thought that the Gozitan side were going to be more than a match for Hibs.

But it was Hibernians who completely dominated the early stages and it was no surprise when Jake Grech put them ahead on 11 minutes after some neat play from Thaylor.

Four minutes later, Jurgen Degabriele avoided the offside trap as he sprinted clear and coolly tucked the ball into an empty net.

Kerċem goalkeeper David Spiteri could do little about Ali Diakete’s powerful shot as Hibs scored again on 23 minutes.

Thaylor was clearly enjoying himself too and five minutes before half-time he dribbled his way into the box and fired behind Spiteri.

Kerċem simply had no answer to Hibs’ pace and movement going forward and when another attack was not properly cleared, substitute Owolabi Muritala scored again with a precise shot in the 54^th minute.

The second half was exhibition stuff with Dunstan Vella scoring after exchanging passes with Thaylor before Grech was on target again.

Substitute Jairo Moriallas’s crisp strike for number eight, ten minutes from time provided a fitting finale.