Marshall saves two penalties as Hibs thrash Livi

Hibernian thrashed 10-man Livingston with David Marshall also saving two quickfire penalties in an action-packed Scottish Premiership cracker.

Magennis then scored his second header of the game after the interval, before Livingston saw successive penalties incredibly saved by Marshall.

Hibs go above Livingston into seventh.

The game’s key moment came after 14 minutes when Holt slid in and caught Nisbet with his follow-through. The Livi midfielder was shown red and Hibs took full advantage of their numerical advantage.

Ryan Porteous’ free-kick from the edge of the box was then palmed away by Ivan Konovalov, but only into the path of Nisbet, whose shot went in via the near post.

And just 74 seconds later, Hibs doubled their lead. Nisbet released Cadden down the right-hand side, and the home full-back rifled a low shot into the far corner.

Hibs boss Lee Johnson celebrated gleefully with his staff, while David Martindale cut a forlorn figure in the opposite dugout. Things would soon go from bad to worse for him.

Magennis seemingly had the freedom of Leith as he wandered into the Livingston box to head home Elie Youan’s innocuous-looking cross. It wrapped up the three points for the hosts before half-time, and things continued in the same vein after the break as Magennis nodded in again.

Livingston posed next to no threat at the other end, but were given the chance to grab a late consolation when Marijan Cabraja felled Esmael Goncalves just inside the box.

Goncalves stepped up, but Marshall flung himself away to his left to save a rather tame spot-kick.

In the aftermath, the ball bobbled up and struck Joe Newell on the arm, and referee Craig Napier showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot once more, allowing Marshall to deny Jack Fitzwatwer this time.

Player of the match – Kyle Magennis

Hibs ease the pressure with much-needed win – analysis

Johnson came into this game having seen Hibs lose seven of their last eight league games, knowing that another slip-up today would put his position as manager under severe threat.

His side turned up though and, albeit against 10 men, looked dangerous every time they went forward. Nisbet’s presence up front provided them with a focal point that they have sorely missed. The much-maligned Elie Youan also stepped up with two asissts – how Hibs could do with more of that from him.

For Livi, it was an afternoon where nothing went right. They capitulated after the red card, and even when they were gifted two presents late on, they couldn’t take advantage.

What they said

Hibs boss Lee Johnson: “There’s a touch of relief in there. We feel we’ve been a little hard done by in some of the results and performances that we put in, and it came together today very nicely. We really went for the jugular after the sending off.

“Great timing for the goals. We needed to win today, we articulated to the boys that it was a must-win, and we’re really happy to send the fans home with a nice Christmas. We haven’t had enough to shout about, but today it’s all gone for us and I’m very proud of the players.”

Livingston manager David Martindale: “I don’t think it’s a sending off, it’s more a yellow card. Then we capitulate. It’s easy to sit here and say what we should have done – Hibs didn’t let us do that.

“We’re going to have days like this, but we’ll get to where we need to be. I think three of the four goals are poor from our point of view. We started playing like individuals after the sending off. We stick together and we move on.”

What’s next?

Livingston host St Mirren on the 28th (19:45), whilst Hibs welcome Celtic to Easter Road on the same day (20:00).