An eye-watering 10-0 victory over St Johnstone - with four goals from Michaela McAlonie, a brace each for Eilidh Adams and Ellis Notley, and a goal apiece for Kirsty Morrison and Poppy Lawson - puts Hibernian into the hat for the Scottish Cup fourth round draw.
Hibernian took no time to get going after coming back from the winter break as Kirsty Morrison opened the scoring after just three minutes. Poppy Lawson forced a save from the St Johnstone goalkeeper Ellie Mitchell inside the box and Morrison pounced at the rebound to smash it home after reacting quicker than Mitchell in the St Johnstone goal.
Morrison almost netted her second just a minute later. Shannon Leishman split the defence with a ball over the top, finding Morrison - who had narrowly beaten the offside trap - but she sent her shot well clear of the bar.
The home side didn’t have to wait much longer to double their lead. Abbie Ferguson beat her marker with a quick turn of pace, before finding Michaela McAlonie at the back post who headed the ball past Mitchell.
After a rapid start to the game and a third goal chopped off for offside, both sides seemed to settle into the match. Hibs allowed the visitors very little of the ball, while St Johnstone seemed content to drop back and soak up the pressure, offering no threat on the counter-attack to the Hibs defence.
However, not before long, the away side were punished for sitting so deep. With 30 minutes played, McAlonie cut inside around 20 yards from goal and sent a shot into the far left top-corner to get her second goal of the match.
McAlonie wouldn’t have to wait long to complete her hat-trick. On the 37th minute, Hibs received a free-kick on the edge of the D, the number eight stood over it and rifled the ball into the roof of the net to put Hibs out of sight of the visitors before half-time.
Hibs weren’t done there though. A weak pass from Mitchell from a goal-kick was intercepted by Ferguson, who took it past two defenders before unselfishly squaring it to Eilidh Adams who placed the ball past the goalkeeper to get Hibernian’s fifth on the 44th minute.
When it looked like St Johnstone would head into the break without so much as a whimper. Scarlett Brady nearly caught Nina Wilson off-guard with an impressive volley from 30 yards out. Wilson did well to keep out the effort, especially with one of her first touches of the match, and Hibernian went into the break with a five-goal lead.
Grant Scott made his first change of the match at the break, with striker Jorian Baucom replacing captain Joelle Murray.
Hibs started the second-half as they had finished the first, Ferguson took the ball on an explosive run down the line, cut inside and found Adams inside the box. The number nine took it like a true number nine and curled the ball into the top-right corner of the goal to give Hibs a six goal advantage just 18 seconds after the restart.
Unfortunately for the visitors, this was an Hibernian side adamant on going for the jugular. Moments after Ferguson had limped off the pitch, Lawson took a free-kick outside the box quickly and sent her effort past Mitchell into the left-hand side of the goal for the seventh goal of the match.
Seven minutes later and it was eight. Mitchell parried McAlonie’s shot from a tight angle but it fell straight into the path of Ellis Notley who passed the ball home into the empty net.
Hibernian’s next substitutions came in the form of a triple change. Ferguson, Adams, and Morrison were replaced by Mya Christie, Brooke Nunn, and Lia Tweedie.
In the 70th minute McAlonie got her fourth and Hibernian’s ninth of the evening. McAlonie quickly adjusted her positioning after receiving the ball from a one-touch pass inside the box and scored with a shot on the half-volley.
Just as it looked like Hibs were done for the day, Nunn supplied Notley with a great cross into the box, who made no mistake with her header and glanced the ball into the bottom-right corner to make it ten for the Hibees.
It was to be one of the last actions of the game, as Hibernian marched into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup with a blistering double-digits win over St Johnstone.
