KILMARNOCK 0

HIBERNIAN took advantage of Dundee United and Motherwell's inactivity yesterday to sneak up to third in the SPL, with a hard-fought victory against a dogged, physical Kilmarnock side.

It was a game that might have drawn Mixu Paatelainen from his technical area to complain about some of the challenges on his players. And on one occasion, early in the second half, he did just that, marching on to the pitch to remonstrate with the referee, Charlie Richmond, but Jim Jefferies did not react a la Walter Smith.

The Kilmarnock manager – who later hailed this as the finest away performance by his side in weeks – was just relieved to see that his players were so committed. Sometimes, perhaps, too committed.

In the end, any pain – and Steven Fletcher, for one, will be no stranger to pain this morning – was assuaged by a result that saw the Edinburgh side leapfrog their closest challengers to land in third place in the SPL. "I look at the league table every day but I'm not going to talk about it," said Paatelainen. "Others have games to play. But we're climbing."

It was a surprisingly physical confrontation, with Fletcher in particular on the end of some rough treatment, the pick of the challenges coming after 16 minutes, when Grant Murray and James Fowler performed a pincer movement. Fletcher spent much of the first half shaking his limbs after successive challenges, though he had the last laugh, scoring the second goal that all but guaranteed victory.

Even with the threat of relegation lifted, Kilmarnock are clearly fighting for their lives. To be fair, though, it wasn't only crunching challenges that they offered yesterday. They began brightly, creating a chance for Danny Invincibile in the first minute.

And it was following a period of Kilmarnock pressure, including two corners, that Hibs had their first opportunity. A lightning break by Merouane Zemmama after nine minutes carried him all the way to the Kilmarnock box, where he looked up, saw Morais in support, and crossed. Filipe Morais headed the ball down to Colin Nish, but it fell just behind him.

If Zemmama and Morais were Hibs' most skilful players, then Mehdi Taouil fulfilled a similar function with Kilmarnock. On 20 minutes he embarked on a mazy run, the ball seemingly attached to his foot as he indulged various tricks and flicks, en route to the edge of the box. The final shot, alas, was blocked.

It was, however, a moment of untidiness that led to Hibs' first-half goal. A long clearance from Rob Jones after 28 minutes was nodded down by Nish for Morais in the centre circle. The ball came off his shin, but the bounce was lucky – it ran into space and Morais was quickly after it.

He bore down on goal, and had time to look up, select his spot and calmly slide it past Alan Combe, into the right corner.

Kilmarnock started the second half well and forced a series of corners, before Hibs imposed themselves. It wasn't until 69 minutes, in fact, that Fletcher enjoyed his first decent shot on goal after a terrific pass from Zemmama.

Fletcher's shot produced a good save from Combe but with his second effort, three minutes later, he scored. The build-up was almost identical. An even better pass from Zemmama, deep in his own half, landed at Fletcher's feet. He was in a similar position, wide on the left, but ran towards goal and unleashed a shot that eluded Combe and bounced into the net off the far post. It was Fletcher's goal, but Zemmama who earned the deserved standing ovation when he was substituted a minute later.

Jefferies bemoaned his side's "lack of a cutting edge – what (Hibs] have got and we lack are forwards like Nish and Steven Naismith". He might have added Fletcher, though, unlike the other two, he isn't a player he's recently lost.

Fletcher is also – on this evidence – resilient. His official man of the match award yesterday surely owed not so much to his decisive goal, but to the fact that after 90 bruising minutes he was still standing.