Celtic youths

Hibs edge clear in u-20 title race

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Football newsHibs moved clear of Celtic at the top of the u-20 table tonight with a deserved 2-0 win over the hoops.

Two goals early in the second half separated the sides to put the Edinburgh side three points clear at the top of the table although Celtic do have two games in hand.

Next week Celtic travel to face Hearts while Hibs face Hamilton Accies with the momentum in Hibs favour although winning all five remaining matches will guarantee that Celtic retain the title.

It was a disappointing night for the hoops after a 3-0 win over Motherwell on Monday but they could have no complaints about the result with Hibs controlling the second half after Celtic had edged the first 45 minutes.

The first chance of the match fell to Jamie Lindsay in the 11th minute when a Paul McMullan corner was cleared to the edge of the box but the midfielder’s shot flew over the bar.

As expected in a top of the table clash every ball was keenly contested and although Celtic had the edge in the early possession they were unable to carve out any real scoring chances.

That changed on the half hour mark when Hibs keeper Paul Grant pulled off a double save from Patrik Twardzik and Denny Johnstone. A long ball out of defence caught out the Hibs defence, Twardzik appeared to have lost the chance but dug out a low shot from 12 yards out that Grant blocked before recovering to turn Johnstone’s effort away for a corner.

Five minutes into the second half McMullan and Henderson opened up the Hibs defence to create an opening for Johnstone but keeper Grant narrowed the angle well to push the shot over for a corner.

Six minutes later Hibs took the lead from a corner with the ball scrambling about the goalmouth before the referee and his assistant indicated that it had crossed the line with Jason Cummings appearing to get the final touch.

Five minutes later Hibs doubled their lead when Owain Jones fired a low free kick into the net from 25 yards out.

Celtic did carve out a couple of chances to get back into the match but the visitors held the upper hand looking dangerous on the break and finding Leo Fasan on form when they got through on goal.

Celtic Fasan, Herron, O’Connell, Fraser, Waters: McMullan, Lindsay, Henderson, McManus, P Twardzik: Johnstone

SUBS: Hart, Breslin, Kelleher, Donnelly, Thomson, KieranTierney, Regan Hardy

HIBS: Grant, Black, Baptie, Smith, Boateng, Gradiner, Zoubir, Jonwa, Cummings, Handling, Watmore

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