There was little in the way of goal scoring opportunities during a frustrating first half in a match billed as top v bottom of the cinch Premiership.
Yet, after the break we stepped up a gear with Kevin Nisbet and Martin Boyle scoring at the start and end of the half respectively.
Livingston failed to test Matt Macey at all this afternoon as our defence dominated their opponents, whilst we could have added to our advantage during a dominant second half showing and deservedly took all three points.
Jack Ross made one change to the side that shared the spoils with Dundee last weekend. Striker Nisbet replaced Alex Gogic and partnered James Scott in attack.
The visitors are not short of a former Hibee or two in their squad, however only Andrew Shinnie made their starting XI, with Marvin Bartley (suspended) and Stephane Omeonga (not cleared in time) missing.
Easter Road was bathed in sunshine as Paul McGinn led out the side to a raucous reception from the expectant home support.
In the opening changes of a frantic start to the match Nisbet had an effort charged down at the edge of the Livingston box before a Bruce Anderson shot on the turn at the other end flashed wide of goal.
On 10 minutes Boyle caught James Penrice unaware to steal possession and drove towards the visitors’ goal, only to scuff his shot wide of the target with Nisbet looking for a pass.
Boyle is a man on form at the moment and he was terrorizing Livingston down our right flank. In the 31st minute he linked-up with McGinn before delivering an excellent low delivery that found Nisbet, only for the striker’s close-range effort to be deflected wide of goal.
It proved to be a frustrating first half for us with Livingston defending in numbers and working hard to close down any gaps we would hope to exploit.
Nevertheless, we continued to move the ball around with purpose and grew in confidence the longer the game went on.
We were dealt a blow just before the interval when birthday boy, Jamie Murphy, limped off and had to be replaced by Scott Allan.
The diminutive midfielder was quickly in the thick of the action as he sprayed the ball wide left to Scott, who delivered an excellent cross that Nisbet headed just wide of goal.
The first half came to close with the teams at stalemate and neither goalkeeper having been called into action as goal scoring opportunities were frustratingly absent.
It took 50 minutes before a shot on target was registered by either side and when it arrived, so too did the opening goal of the game.
There appeared to be little on when McGinn fed the ball into the path of Nisbet, who had his back to goal, however the Scotland striker expertly rolled Sean Kelly before firing across Max Stryjek and into the far corner of the net for his third goal of the campaign.
We had a quick opportunity to double our lead when Boyle was tripped on the edge of the Livi box and Ryan Porteous attempted to celebrate his 100th appearance for the club with a goal - only to smash his shot from the free kick into the defensive wall.
We lost our second player to injury when Nisbet limped off to be replaced by Drey Wright before Odin Bailey shot wide of goal from a free kick on the edge of our box.
It would prove to be Livingston’s only effort on goal all afternoon as our central defence pairing of Darren McGregor and Porteous never gave the visitors a sniff.
With 13 minutes remaining Allan and man-of-the-match, Kyle Magennis, linked up wonderfully to create an opening for Jake Doyle-Hayes who saw his shot deflected wide for a corner kick.
With just two minutes remaining we doubled our lead as ran onto a wonderful backheel through ball from Allan before dinking the ball over the diving Stryjek for his seventh goal in nine appearances this season.
It was nearly 3-0 seconds after the restart as substitute Daniel Mackay rose to meet a Boyle cross, however on this occasion Stryjek was well position to save.
Hibernian: Macey, Doig, Porteous, McGinn, Magennis, Boyle, Nisbet (Wright 68’), Murphy (Allan 45’), Doyle-Hayes, McGregor, Scott (Mackay 89’). Substitutes not used: Dabrowski, Gogic, Stevenson, Campbell.
Livingston: Stryjek, Devlin, Fitzwater (Kelly 49’), Obileye, Anderson (Hamilton 45’), Sibbald (Jacobs 58’), Bailey, Forrest, Holt, Shinnie, Penrice. Substitutes not used: Barden, Longridge, Lewis, Panayioutou.
Referee: Steven Maclean.
Attendance: 13,431.
