Hibs U19s 2 St Mirren 1

A sensational late turnaround at HTC against St Mirren sees the wee Hibees rise to top of the CAS Elite U19 League table.

After going behind with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining to a close-range Lewis Hodgkiss finish, the resilient Hibees pushed on until the final whistle to turn the game on its head. 

Jamie McMurdo would bring Hibs level in the 89th minute with a composed finish before Josh McDonald, pouncing on a fortunate distribution error from the St Mirren keeper, lifted in the winner deep into stoppage time. 

Darren McGregor's side were once again missing several players for the top-end clash, but the team were pleased to welcome back captain Joseph McGrath and holding midfielder Zach Bruce into the starting XI.

Hibernian XI: Mallon, McSporran (McNeill 84'), Gillie, McGrath, Buckley, Bruce, Cleland (Jimenez 65'), Burns, McMurdo, McDonald, Riddell. 

Substitutes: Brown, Jimenez, McNeill, Aghanya.

It was a quiet start to proceedings in East Lothian as both teams settled into the match, with St Mirren attacker Hodgkiss taking on the first shot of the game inside 10 minutes; volleying tamely into the side-netting after meeting a cross on the right flank. 

Hibs were next to threaten on 12 minutes as a wild 30-yard swerving strike from McMurdo nearly caught out St Mirren keeper Charlie Innes, who done well to get down low to keep out the attempt. 

St Mirren's Joshua Farquhar was denied by a top Ryan Mallon stop five minutes later, with the Hibs keeper catching well to thwart the attacker's snappy glancing header.  

Hibs would quickly race up the other end following Farqhar's header, with Zach Bruce's grounded strike caught by Innes. 

Another chance would quickly follow for the wee Hibees on 22 minutes as Dean Cleland saw his powerful shot rebuffed by the Buddies' number one. Our striker would soon after, on the half-hour mark, curl a speculative effort wide of the mark.

A terrific block from skipper McGrath and a solid low stop from Mallon would see both Hodgkiss and Jack Lavery denied before the final chance of the first 45.

The last opportunity before the break was the best yet, as McDonald - following lovely intricate play down the right-side - thrashed a half-volley off the crossbar from the corner of the six-yard box, with McMurdo heading over on the rebound from seven yards out.

Rueing his missed chance, McMurdo seeked to find the opener just two minutes inside the second half. He saw his first shot from the edge of the area blocked before his follow-up strike was tipped around the post by Innes.

With chances few and far between for both sides, Logan Jimenez was brought off the bench on 65 minutes in an attempt to find the opener and he would go agonisingly close within five minutes of his introduction.

The Bermuda international would be denied well at point-blank range by Innes after his central effort was thwarted by the smothering keeper, whilst his headed rebound would clip the post and be hastily cleared by the St Mirren defence. 

The visitors would seize on the missed opportunity to open the scoring on 75 minutes. Lavery fired a low delivery across the face of goal that Hodgkiss met at the back post, with his deft touch just enough to see the ball squirm over the line. 

The wee Hibees would go even more so on the offensive in a last-ditch attempt to take something from the closely-fought encounter, with Jimenez stinging the fingertips of Innes and McDonald curling a promising shot wide in quick succession just two minutes after the deadlock was broken.

With time running out, McMurdo would find our equaliser in the 89th minute.

Alasdair Burns would nick back possession inside the final third before finding Bruce, who found McMurdo in behind. The attacker breezed past two defenders in one motion and promptly skipped around Innes to slot the ball home into an empty net. 

Smelling blood, Hibs continued to threaten as we crept into stoppage time at HTC - with a 20-yard free kick from McDonald just whizzing over the bar. 

McDonald would then come up with the goods three minutes into added-on time to seal a dramatic victory for the wee Hibees. 

Innes, rushing to counter-attack from a drop kick, slipped as he looked to fire a long pass up the left wing and instead drilled the ball directly into the feet of McDonald, who rapidly took the ball down and lifted it back over Innes and into the uncovered net. 

The victory sends the wee Hibees to top spot in the league above Rangers, as well as furthers the points gap between ourselves and third-place St Mirren to seven points.