An incredible 1375 supporters paid to get into Victoria Park to watch manager Alan Stubbs take charge of his Easter Road team for the first time.

It was a day where both camps left the ground rubbing their hands – financially for Vale and performance-wise from Hibs.

For new boss Stubbs, it was an occasion to remember. He told the Border Telegraph: “I thought we played well and retained the ball well. The application of the players was very, very good.

“I’m very happy – it’s always nice to win games of football. It’s been a fantastic day and it’s great for Vale of Leithen to host a club like Hibernian. The crowd that came here today is great to see and made the day a bit special.

“We want to create optimism within the fans – they’ve had hard times and we want to give them something to be proud of again.” It was the Vale fans who would have been most pleased during the opening 45 minutes as Vale performed heroically to frustrate the visitors.

Only a Max Todd angled shot, which flew a foot wide, was all the Championship side could muster in the opening half hour. Central defensive duo Jack Blaikie and James Elliot stood strong to the fluency of the Hibs attack. And on the rare foray into the visitors’ half Scott McCulloch led the line well, linking up with Greig Tulloch and Kenny O’Brien, and forcing two or three corners.

But there was real quality in the green shirts and eventually they found a way through.

Neil Martynuik tore down the left flank and his neat ball inside was slammed low and hard into the far corner by Jason Cummings.

Adam Buxton almost doubled the advantage just seconds before the break. The full back trialist from Wigan fired a ferocious freekick inches past the far post with Ross McMullen beaten.

Stubbs had the luxury of making nine substitutions at half time. And the fresh legs soon had a tiring Vale team pegged back.

On the hour Sam Stanton burst through a gap in the home defence and despite McMullen blocking well, Cummings was on hand to slot home the rebound.

The impressive Liam Craig added a third on 69 minutes with a powerful run which took him through two tackles and finished with a delicate angled dink into the far corner. The club captain was denied a second by a fantastic Mark Wilson save just five minutes later.

And Wilson also pulled out a great stop to deny Melrose-based striker Lewis Allan.

Despite the pressure Vale continued to close down quickly and fought for every ball with Ross Brady and Steven Lynch tireless in front of the back four.

But in the closing stages Alex Harris scored the fourth after latching onto Allan’s through ball.

It may have turned into a football lesson as the second half wore on, but Vale manager Mark Lamb was full of praise for his players and the fans. He said: “Everyone at the club is happy – 1375 is a fantastic crowd and nobody here can remember such numbers at Victoria Park for a long time.

“The boys never gave up and they battled for everything. We have had two tough games in 48 hours but there was still plenty of desire out there right to the end.

“We would like to thank everyone from Hibernian and all their supporters – this game will go a long way to getting us out of trouble.” Vale of Leithen. R McMullen (M Wilson 65), R Sclater, B Dickson (G Tainsh 71), J Elliot, J Blaikie, S Lynch (B Nixon 71), R Brady, S McCulloch (C Anderson 75), K O’Brien, J Morris (B McGregor 51) & G Tulloch.

Hibernian. K Perntreou (S Brennan 46), A Buxton (A Dunsmore 46), N Martyniuk (C Booth 46), L Stevenson (J Forser 46), M Nelson (P Hanlon 46), T Gardiner (N Burke 46), S Martin (L Craig 46), O Tudor Jones (A Harris 46), J Cummings (C Crane 62 (J Sinclair 81)), D Handling (L Allan 62), M Todd (S Stanton 46).