Elgin City were brushed aside by Premiership side Hibernian as they advanced to the Scottish Cup fifth round with a 4-0 win at Easter Road.
With three divisions separating the two sides, the odds were against Elgin causing an upset and they were two down inside 25 minutes, with Florian Kamberi and Darryl Horgan netting.
City stopper Thomas McHale denied Kamberi from the spot before Stevie Mallan netted their second penalty, with Horgan adding a fourth after the break.
From the 4-1 drubbing at home to Cowdenbeath last weekend, Elgin made two changes with Thomas McHale and David Wilson replacing Kyle Gourlay and Kerr Hay. Hibernian handed a debut to Ryan Gauld, the former Dundee United midfielder who joined on loan from Sporting Club de Portugal during the January window.
The home side started strongly, with Horgan denied well by McHale and Vykintas Slivka heading on to the roof of the net. Greg Morrison, on loan from Ross County, headed the first opportunity over for the visitors.
Gauld and Stevie Mallan both had efforts wide in the first 15 minutes for Neil Lennon’s side, who were returning to action after a winter break in Dubai.
Two goals in five minutes sucked the life out of the visitors, after their solid start.
Kamberi was played in behind the Elgin defence and with McHale advancing, he skipped round him to slide in the opener on 20 minutes.
Less than five minutes later and the lead was doubled, with Slivka floating a cross in from the right and Horgan beating McHale to the ball, glancing a header in.
McHale, a summer addition from English non-league side Truro City, knew he would be busy and delivered a moment to remember after the half-hour mark, springing to his right to superbly keep out Kamberi’s penalty after Rabin Omar felled Steven Whittaker.
City’s best chance of a goal was inevitably going to come through Shane Sutherland and his slaloming run, in which he deceived Marvin Bartley and Paul Hanlon, nearly paved the way for Greg Morrison to finish but there was too much weight on his pass.
Mallan delivered where Kamberi failed a minute before the interval, sending McHale the wrong way from the spot after Brian Cameron was punished for clipping the Estonian forward.
A consolation goal was now the target for the Borough Briggs outfit and they nearly produced one within 30 seconds of the restart. Great work from Sutherland down the left pulled the ball back for Omar, who skewed his first-time shot across the face of goal.
Any error from the away side was likely to be punished and such was the case when Darryl McHardy slipped trying to intercept a pass intended for Whittaker, and he centred for Horgan to slot in at the back post.
Substitute Oli Shaw should have made it five with 20 minutes to go but thanks to some last-ditch defending from Matthew Cooper, he saw his effort deflected wide.
Gavin Price gave Kane Hester his debut late on, following his arrival from Arbroath, but the elusive goal could not be found as Neil Lennon’s side cruised into the next round.
