Hibernian FC

Rocky Bushiri has developed a fantastic habit of late at popping up with BIG goals and he produced another this evening.

Tonight’s man of the match notched an 87^th minute winner to send us into the quarter-final of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup.

In the end it was a hard-fought victory against an Ayr United side that gave their all before succumbing to only their second home defeat of the campaign.

More importantly for us, we are into the last eight, unbeaten in eleven games and the boys managed to send the 3,500 Hibees in Ayr home happy.

David Gray made just one change from the side that defeated Aberdeen last weekend with Mykola Kuharevich replacing Dwight Gayle in attack.

Championship high-flyers Ayr had scored ten goals without reply already in this competition and they came into the match brimming with confidence.

The Honest Men moved top of their division last weekend with a victory over Hamilton Academical, however that didn’t stop boss Scott Brown making two changes to his side. Former Hibs winger, Jamie Murphy, was amongst their substitutes.

The fighting spirit needed this evening was evident when Nectar Triantis picked up a yellow card inside the opening 50 seconds for a fierce challenge on Connor McLennan.

We started the match on the front foot with Warren O’Hora glancing a header wide in the opening moments.

On six minutes good battling out wide by big Myko saw the striker win possession before attempt to beat Harry Stone at his near post, only for the goalkeeper to beat it away.

Ayr’s potent strike force of George Oakley and Jay Henderson had scored 27 goals between them this season and they linked up on 12 minutes to create the hosts best opportunity of the first half.

Henderson spotted the run of Oakley in behind and sent him through on goal; the forward looked to place the ball beyond Jordan Smith however the goalkeeper came up with a big save to thwart him.

We were soon back on the attack, and we passed up a big opportunity ourselves when Triantis’ cross found Boyle at the back post and his shot was deflected by a covering defender and into the arms of Stone.

On 21 minutes Stone was fortunate to escape unpunished when he delayed on the ball too long and was almost disposed by Kuharevich. Big Myko closed the goalkeeper down and although he got a nick on the ball, Stone managed to knock it away.

Four minutes later Josh Campbell tried his luck from 25-yards out with a rising effort that ended straight at Stone who gathered comfortably.

Ayr remained a threat on the counterattack with former Aberdeen man, McLennan, going close with an ambitious volley from the edge of the box that flashed over Smith’s crossbar.

The final chance of note from a hard-fought first half saw Boyle pass up another gilt-edged opportunity when Jack Iredale picked him out at the back post only for the unmarked winger to head downwards into the ground and the ball bounced over the crossbar.

Neither side made any changes during the interval, as we returned shooting towards the huge Hibs support in the Railway end of Somerset Park.

The longer the match went at 0-0 the more the home support sensed a potential cup shock in the making, and they got right behind their team as Ayr skipper Ben Dempsey tested Smith with a shot from distance.

Soon after a snapshot from McLennan stung the palms of Smith as Ayr again had a go with a shot from outside the box.

We were struggling to create any meaningful opportunities in the second period and boss Gray looked to shake things up for his side by introducing Kieran Bowie and Nathan Moriah-Welsh.

Nicky Cadden attempted a curling effort on the angle that Stone saved comfortably as the threat of extra-time and potentially penalty kicks loomed.

We had a good shout for a spot kick with eight minutes remaining when Bowie appeared to be held back by McCann as he contested a high ball only for our appeal to fall on deaf ears.

Seconds later Agbaire made a mess of clearing the ball allowing Boyle clean-through on goal but with only Stone to beat, he sliced his shot wide of the far post and another gilt-edged chance went a-begging.

With three minutes remaining we finally broke the deadlock. Iredale’s long throw into the penalty box was flicked on by Bowie and Rocky glanced it in from close range.

Credit to Ayr, they made us fight until the bitter end and they twice went close to levelling during the four minutes of added time.

First, Marco Rus produced a terrific, low curling effort that was met by an equally impressive save from Smith, diving low to his left to push the ball away.

Then, in the dying seconds of the match, former Hibee Murphy fizzed an effort goalward that moved significantly in the air and again Smith was a match, this time parrying the ball upwards before gathering it before anyone in white could pounce.

The final whistle then went with Smith in possession as we held on to claim a vital win and progress into the next round of the competition.