It might’ve been dreich overhead but as far as Thornton were concerned, on the pitch they were arguably as bright as they’ve been all season.

And yet it was a much-changed line-up that Craig Gilbert put out for this one. Some of the so-called fringe players played out of their skins to give the Hibs’ boss a selection headache – albeit a nice one – for Saturday’s game as he has to question whether to stay with the same guys or go back to the more regular starts.
 
The Hibs took the lead as Adam Drummond converted from the spot after Lee White’s shot struck the arm of a Spiders’ defender.

Following a stramash in front of goal, Mark Rowbotham made a brilliant save to keep his goal intact and this was crucial because shortly after the ball fell perfectly for Ryan McNeil to smash home a quite sensational volley from 20 yards that fairly zinged beyond the flailing arms of Gary Thain.

On the half hour mark, Daniel McNab’s shot on the run from fully 30 yards deserved better as it came crashing back off the crossbar but McNab was only setting his sights because two minutes into the second-half he got on the end of Chris Ireland’s great cutback to lash the ball home from 15 yards for his first ever goal in a Hibs’ jersey.

It wasn’t all one-way traffic though and Thornton had Rowbotham to thank when he got down superbly to push Kit Bremner’s netbound shot wide for a fruitless corner-kick.

McNab took a sore one in the 78th minute and had to be replaced by Garry Thomson. The former Raith man was only on the park five minutes when he completed the scoring with his twentieth goal of the season.
 
Window Store Hibs Man of the Match – Willie Clark
 
Downfield: Thain, Steward, Ballantine, Ferrie, Cox, Brown, Hart, Esposito, Mann, Reynolds, Connell. Subs: Bremner, Deuchars, Hood, Szpak, Kelly.
 
Referee: Mr G.Soutar