Was the turning point the hotly disputed penalty awarded to the home side when the Hibs were leading 1-0? It might have been but the bottom line is that despite having by far the bulk of possession, Thornton just couldn’t convert this into goals and Kevin Goodwin punished them for this as he claimed a hat-trick.

Keiran McGuire put the Hibs ahead in the 20th minute when he brilliantly lobbed Gary Inglis from 20 yards with Lochore claiming there had been an infringement before the ball had reached the Hibs’ skipper.

Ian Shanks’ 28th minute tackle on David Byrne looked perfectly legitimate but the ref thought otherwise and had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Goodwin wasn’t about to object to this decision and he rattled the ball home although Mark Rowbotham came mighty close to stopping it.

Coco Mullen’s 57th minute free-kick was struck so fiercely that Inglis allowed the ball to squirm from his grasp but there were no men in green ready to capitalise.

Kyle Wilson had a shot cleared off the line and Mullen watched his header flash past the wrong side of the upright and it looked just a matter of time until a goal was scored. Unfortunately for the Hibs it came in the 71st minute at the other end as Goodwin beat the offside trap and ran almost half the pitch before cleverly shooting beyond the advancing Rowbotham.  

The Hibs had been well on top up ‘til this stage and this setback appeared to knock the wind out of their sails because six minutes later it was effectively ‘game over’ as Goodwin completed his hat-trick after Rowbotham had spilled a shot. 

Lochore Welfare: Inglis, Harrower, Penman, Renton, Fyfe, Fotheringham, Byrne, Laing, Goodwin, Masson, Gordon. Subs:Ferguson, Sartarello, Trialist, Trialist.

Referee: Mr G. Farmer