Hibs leapfrogged Rangers and Motherwell to move up to fourth in the table after a 1-0 victory over Ross County in Dingwall this afternoon.

Head Coach Neil Lennon made three changes to the starting XI that beat Livingston in midweek.

Steven Whittaker, Dylan McGeouch and Simon Murray took over from David Gray, Danny Swanson and Vykintas Slivka.

Ross Laidlaw kept his place and will definitely feature at Celtic Park next Saturday as Lennon has allowed the Israel international to miss the match so he can observe the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

Hibs started brightly and Martin Boyle went close with a fine effort which flew inches over the bar.

Moments later, Steven Whittaker’s run down the right ended with his cross being turned behind.

From the resultant corner, John McGinn’s cross was cleared as far as Paul Hanlon who fired a  low effort into the bottom corner from six yards to the delight of the travelling fans.

Laidlaw did well to keep his side in front then his opposite number did likewise to prevent Murray adding to the lead.

McGinn, Boyle and Whittaker all had chances before the break but their shots went wide.

Hibs continued to dominate and Anthony Stokes’ 25 yard free-kick was well saved by Fox.

Man of the match Fox then produced a great save from Whittaker as Hibs looked to wrap things up.

At the other end Laidlaw produced a point-blank save from Michael Gardyne before Stokes went close with a low drive from the edge of the area.

Fox then tipped another Stokes effort past the post as play raged from end to end.

With time running out Laidlaw did well to save from Alex Shalk then Stokes struck the post from a free kick.

Lennon had criticised his players after failing to manage a lead against Motherwell but they obviously listened as the hung on to secure all three points.

Ross County: Fox, Draper (Lindsay, 65), O’Brien, Davies, Van Der Weg, Curran (Schalk, 63), Gardyne, Naismith, Fraser, McKay, Tumilty (Keillor-Dunn, 45). Unused substitutes: McCarey, Chow, Kelly, Mikkelsen.

Hibs: Laidlaw, Whittaker, Ambrose, Hanlon, Stevenson, Bartley, McGeouch (Slivka, 85), Boyle, Stokes, McGinn, S. Murray (Matulevicius, 85). Unused substitutes: Marciano, Swanson, Martin, F. Murray, Porteous.

Referee: Andrew Dallas.

Attendance: 4,181. Away: 935

 

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John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.