Palmerston Park Tuesday, July 13th, 2010   1st Team Friendly Attendance: 979         Queen Of The South 0-4 Hibernian
2010 /11

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For the second time in four days Hibernian swept aside First Division opposition to record a 4-0 victory on the road. John Hughes'' side impressed once more, particularly in the first half, and produced four fantastic goals in the process. Youngster Daniel Galbraith opened the scoring early on before rare strikes from Ian Murray and Lewis Stevenson were rounded off by a sensational long range effort from Colin Nish. John Hughes made six changes from the side that started in Saturday''s demolition of Dunfermline Athletic in Fife. Goalkeeper Graham Stack was given his first taste of action since suffering a freak training ground injury in April, whilst new signings Michael Hart and David Stephens were given their first starts for the club. The home side started brightly but they were unable to prevent Hibernian opening the scoring with their first attack of the game. Striker Nish did fantastically well to pull the central defenders out of position before threading the ball through to Galbraith, the youngster held off McAusland before slipping the ball beyond McKenzie and into the net. It wasn''t long before the Edinburgh side doubled their advantage and it was all down to the persistence of Galbraith. The former Manchester United youth refused to give up on a lost cause and whilst the home defence stopped expecting the ball to go out of play, he managed to keep it in and his low cross was knocked into the net from close range by Murray. Queen of the South attempted to respond in a positive manner to the double set-back and they went close to pulling a goal back when Burns cross from the right was hooked wide by Carmichael. It was a night for surprise goal scorers for John Hughes side.Murray had earlier netted his first goal since returning to the club in January 2008, but he found his striker overshadowed by a first ever senior goal from Stevenson. Nish did well to hold off Reid before slipping the ball to the unmarked youngster and he finished with aplomb - curling an exquisite left foot effort into the top corner beyond the despairing McKenzie. Goalkeeper Stack, who had so far been an observer, was called into action for the first time just before the half hour mark when he raced from his goal to save bravely at the feet of Carmichael. The final chance of the first half went to the impressive Galbraith as he cut inside onto his right foot before finding his fierce drive beaten away by McKenzie. Surprisingly for a pre-season fixture, John Hughes made just one change at the interval with Brown replacing Stack in goal. The second half was just 5 minutes old when Nish unleashed a stunning 30-yard right foot shot that gave McKenzie no chance and entered the Queens'' net off the far post. The plucky home side carved out a couple of chances in quick succession but drives from Quinn and Burns were blocked in front of goal by Hogg and Nish respectively. Around the hour mark Hibernian made a host of changes with Byrne, Horner, Thicot, Currie, Taggart and McCann replacing Wotherspoon, Murray, Rankin, Stephens, Hogg and Nish respectively. So many changes to the side resulted in Hibernian losing some of their earlier fluidity and this allowed Queen of the South a spell of pressure. Brown had to watch a dipping half-volley from McLaren very carefully however the drive was just too high. The action fell flat for the final quarter but John Hughes will have been delighted by his sides performance. Queen of the South: McKenzie, Reid, Harris, McAusland, McKenna, Johnston (Trialist), Quinn, Burn, Weatherspoon, Carmichael, McLaren.Subs: McShane, Reilly, Orsi, Degnan, Thomson, Scally. Hibernian: Stack, Hart, Murray, Hogg, Stephens, Welsh, Galbraith, Wotherspoon, Nish, Stevenson, Rankin. Subs (all used): Brown, McCann, Thicot, Currie, Byrne, Taggart, Horner. Referee: John McKendrick. Attendance: 979