Thornton's dreams of Scottish Junior Cup glory are over for another season after they went down heavily at Abbey Park.

And this despite taking a 4th minute lead when Andy Adam skipped inside Joe Coleman then ran on before shooting low into the far corner of the net.

The Hibs were well on top when play was held up in the 8th minute following an accidental collision involving the referee, William Wilson, and Adam Drummond. After treatment, the ref, his assistants and the ref's observer took 26 minutes on the pitch and inside the dressing room to decide that 'the show must go on' but only after the ref was 'subbed' by one of his assistants with a Kilwinning committee member running the vacant line.

Whether or not this lengthy delay upset Thornton's rhythm or gave a chance for Kilwinning to re-assess their tactics we'll never know but after that it was the home side who went on to run out worthy winners – although the final score was maybe a wee bit flattering.

Craig Pettigrew struck a low shot in the 25th minute to level the tie and within sixty seconds Ryan Nisbet – easily the Rangers' star man – cut inside Adam Drummond before smashing the ball beyond Ryan Linton.

The home side doubled their lead in the 34th minute through Nisbet again with the Hibs' players appealing in vain that there had been a hand used illegally in the build up to the goal.

Within sixty seconds, Garry Thomson reduced the deficit to one following good play from Andy Adam and Matthew Robertson.

Kilwinning re-established their two-goal advantage in the 68th minute when Nisbet's low crossfield pass was perfect for Carlo Monti to score from 12 yards with claims from the Thornton defence that the scorer had been offside being waved aside by the replacement referee.

If Garry Fleming was offside too when he netted number five in the 81st minute then it didn't matter by now with the final nail in the coffin coming in the 89th minute from substitute Mark Curragh.

SM Electrical Services Hibs' Man of the Match: Andy Adam

Kilwinning Rangers: A.Strain, Coleman, McCloskey, Pettigrew, Fleming, Monti, Lewis, Boylan, Wardrope, Nisbet, Maitland. Subs: Taylor, Whyte, M.Curragh, Smith.

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

Referee: Mr W. Wilson

Match statistics:
Attempts at goal - KR 12 TH 5
Attempts on target - KR 7 TH 3
Corners - KR 5 TH 3
Offside - KR 3 TH 5
Fouls committed - KR 24 TH 10
Yellow Cards - KR 4 TH 3
Red Cards - KR 0 TH 0