With Valletta and Mosta defeated on Saturday, Hibernians are the new BoV Premier League leaders after beating Tarxien Rainbows with an Andrew Cohen first half strike yesterday.
Hibernians were dominant in every department, their neighbours unable to cope with the champions' power, pace and technique, especially in the opening half when Branko Nisevic's boys were at their best and enjoyed a deserved lead through captain Andrew Cohen.
After the interval Hibernians chose to oppress their opponents gradually and largely controlled the second half but did not test keeper Cassar until late in it. They could have even increased their lead were it for the post to deny Jorge Silva.
Tarxien were thus finally beaten for the first time this season following a win and two draws in the previous three games.
Tarxien coach Jacques Scerri gave starts to Lucky Omeruo in midfield and Luke Montebello in attack as Daniel Zerfa failed a fitness test and was named as a substitute.
The champions fielded the same regular eleven, with Jackson Lima, returning from suspension to replace the ineligible Denni Dos Santos, being also prominently involved
Very quick and extremely athletic, Tarxien tried to counter the early pressure but Hibernians' speed of thought and foot was such that the Tarxien defence was always destined to suffer, despite the towering presence of Baker and De Oliveira in the centre.
Before the quarter hour, Hibernians had already gone close on two occasions. The first was through Dias' quick burst of acceleration inside the Tarxien area, leaving two opponents behind him before unleashing a diagonal low shot that narrowly missed the target.
Then keeper Cassar blocked at Lima's feet, in full flight from the left, before Hibernians made the breakthrough midway through the half. Dias delivered the cross from the right, Jorge Silva intelligently palyed the dummy for Andrew Cohen to rifle the ball past the helpless Tarxien keeper.
On 41 minutes, Cohen broke down a Tarxien attack, played a long ball forwrad from midfield for Jorginho to cross towards the middle for Jorge Silva to head narrowly wide.
The interval beckoned when Hibernians keeper Rudy Briffa was called into action for the first time in the match, rushing off his line to thwart Hevia Menendez.
Tarxien were not entirely deflated and tried to put some more effort in the second period, even as Hibernians eased down a bit and were content to sit on that narrow lead, playing the ball around in neat triangles.
Occasionally they produced incisive flourishes, and one such burst past the hour, almost saw them double their advantage. Cohen put Jorge Silva clear as he raced towards goal through the middle but his low drive rebounded off the foot of the Tarxien goal.
Bjorn Kristensen seemed not the least amused when substituted by Jonathan Pearson for the final 20 minutes and Gilmar Ribeiro was introduced instead of Cohen soon after.
Late efforts from the Paolites to put the match to bed had Tarxien keeper Cassar again denying Jorge Silva with a good save with eight minutes remaining.
Otherwise it was mostly a matter of Hibernians playing out time.