Thornton began 2019 with a defeat against a team that played for 54 mins with only ten men. The Hibs started well enough with Andy Wilson making an excellent save to prevent Daniel McNab from hitting a 2nd minute opener.

In the 35th minute a terrific free-kick from Garry Thomson came back off the face of the bar and a minute later Ross Gunn was red-carded for a tackle that was just a tad too robust for the referee's liking.

Another superb free-kick from Thomson struck the post two minutes later and at this stage it looked just a matter of time before the Hibs would take the lead.

Right on half-time however, the home side broke the deadlock thanks to a fierce strike from Gary Brass after he was well set up by Reece Duncan and this had the effect of being a real game-changer.

Both sides had plenty of possession in the second-half but in the words of one Hibs' supporter, Craig Gilbert's side appeared to be rudder-less and Wilson was rarely troubled.

Duncan came close to extending Whitburn's lead with a great strike from 15 yards that slammed off the bar but with just a couple of minutes remaining Darren Liddell sealed victory with a close in shot when he got on the end of Greg Nicol's low cross.

Whitburn: Wilson, Griffin, Tinning, Boyle, Hamilton, Nicol, Henderson, R.Gunn, Brass, Liddell, Duncan. Subs: Tomaszewski, G.Gunn, Taylor, McQuillan, D.Russell.

Thornton Hibs: Warrender, Robertson, A.Drummond, S.Drummond, Millar, Orrock, Keatings, Hepburn, Anthony, Thomson, McNab. Subs: Shanks, Crichton, Ireland, Coleman, Adam.

Referee: Mr D.Graves