Selkirk 0

Hibernian 9

David Knox

at Yarrow Park

WHAT a difference a year makes.

Last July Selkirk claimed the Bobby Johnstone Memorial Cup following a penalty shoot-out with Eddie May's future stars of Easter Road.

Fast forward 12 months and the managerless Yarrow Park team struggled to get out of their own half.

Former assistant to Garry O'Connor, Joe Brown, answered an SOS to take temporary charge of the Souters for Monday evening's friendly.

And somehow the club managed to attract enough players to give the talented young Hibernian team a game.

Following the defeat Brown told us: "A lot of our players don't know each other and some haven't played or trained for a few months.

"But we must give them credit for the effort and they can still walk off the park with their heads held high.

"Hibs were not only good tonight but they were ruthless."

If it hadn't been for the heroics of former Deveronvale keeper Mathew Mackie the scoreline could have been much worse.

And when the newly signed number one wasn't pushing shots over the bar or round the post, the woodwork of his goal was being struck at an alarming rate.

The post and bar had been clattered no fewer than five times before Lewis Allan finally made the breakthrough on 22 minutes.

Emanuel Bitanga and Stuart Cockburn defended admirably as the onslaught continued.

But the inevitable second goal arrived, again from a tidy Allan finish, six minutes before the interval.

The Melrose striker completed his hat-trick just before the break after showing great technique to turn and shoot on the edge of the area.

Hibs keeper Maciej Dabrowski had been a mere spectator throughout the opening 45 minutes.

And apart from forcing a couple of corners during the second period, Selkirk struggled to threaten the visitors' goal after the teams turned.

An eye-catching quickfire double from Sean Mackie brought the score up to 5-0 before the hour.

Another Allan strike on 75 minutes kept the travelling support happy.

And inside the final five minutes the green-and-white fans were treated to a further three goals - two from captain Kevin Waugh and one from Innes Murray.

Selkirk: M Mackie, S Murphy, C Brian, E Bitanga, S Cockburn, M McFadyen, U Korona, S Qadir (S Cuningham 56), R Ward, K Scott & F McFarlane.

Hibernian: M Dabrowski, A Blake, C Donaldson, J Campbell, K Waugh, B Stirling, S Mackie (R Paton 72), I Murray, L Allan, F Murray (P Martin 46) & J Gullan (C Yeats 60).