Hibernians progressed to the quarter final of the U*BET FA Trophy without breaking sweat against Division 1 leaders Rabat Ajax.

The Paolites had their work cut early when they were already four goals up by halftime.

The gulf in class between the two teams was always in evidence as Rabat, who had knocked out Birzebbuga and Kirkop United in the previous rounds, looked short of the sheer pace and physicality of Premier League standards.

As expected, all the individual honours went to the boys from Paola.

Hibernians, with Marcelo Dias, Steve Pisani and Aaron Xuereb starting on the bench, scored at will as the Rabat defence was at sixes and sevens. They opened their account after only three minutes through Andrew Cohen’s inswinging free kick at the top left hand corner of keeper Mintoff.

Another Lima shot went wide before the Rabat keeper had to pick the ball from the net again on 13 minutes as Clayton Failla headed low past him Lima’s cross from the right.

On the quarter hour, Rabat went past the halfway line when Smeir ran through, chasing Micallef’s pass but keeper Muscat rushed off his line to block.

Hibernians kept up the initiative. On 17 minutes Kristensen put Peter Anizoba through and as the goalkeeper rushed out to block at his feet, the ball rebounded off the Hibernians forward into the net.

The game was already practically over by then. Rabat put in Albanian Vilson Caushi for Neil Caruana and retreated Dylan Falzon in defence on 20 minutes to mitigate the danger.

But that did not stop Hibernians from scoring their fourth goal three minutes later.

From Cohen’s corner from the left, Anizoba’s back header was deflected off a Rabat defender, the ball fell to Luis Edison who shot in from close range.

Hibernians eased off after that as Rabat kept chasing a lost cause. A Pearson shot from a distance went narrowly off target before the teams went in for the break.

Rabat put in David Azzopardi for Rustemi at the start of the second half and Luis Edison was also substituted by Hibernians, as Dias made his appearance.

Hibernians showed no more urgency though and kept knocking the ball around with training ground easiness.

Rabat were allowed more of possession although they hardly ever troubled the Hibernians’ defence, with Soares and Vandelannoite at the heart of it.

Lima put his shot wide and on 74 minutes Dias went past Falzon on the right, crossed from the byeline for Lima to shoot but keeper Mintoff saved well.

Three minutes later, the Rabat keeper stretched himself to hold out a Cohen effort.

But there was no denying Hibernians ten minutes from time as Cohen laid the ball for Jackson Lima to beat the keeper with a defiant strike from the edge of the area.

Rabat A S. Mintoff, N. Caruana (V. Caushi), C. Schembri, J. Cornforth, J. Caruana, A. Smeir, A. Rustemi (D. Azzopardi), D. Falzon, C. Muscat, Y. Cauchi, R. Micallef (J. Felice)

Hibernians M. Muscat, J. Pearson, R. Soares, J. Vandelannoite, B. Kristensen, C. Failla (S. Pisani), A. Cohen, J. Lima, S. Chircop, P. Anizoba (J. Bezzina), L. Edison (M. Dias)

Referee A.M. Sant

Asst.refs A. Camilleri, P. Apap

4th official K. Azzopardi

Scorers A. Cohen 3, C. Failla 13, P. Anizoba 17, L. Edison 23, J. Lima 80

Yellow card R. Micallef