Hibs: One step closer to the holy grail after victory over Montrose

• Colin Nish celebrates scoring Hibs' second goal

"ANYONE at home," was John Hughes' reply to the inevitable question as to who he fancies in the quarter-finals of the Active Nation Scottish Cup.

Whatever the outcome of Wednesday's draw, the Hibs boss knows his side will encounter much tougher opposition than they have thus far, disposing of Ayrshire Junior outfit Irvine Meadow and now Montrose, the team anchored – by some distance – to the bottom of the Third Division.

Hughes would be the first to admit fortune has shone on the Easter Road outfit but luck, as everyone in football would agree, plays a large part in determining the outcome of cup competition.

With that being the case, all Hibs could do over the course of these two ties was to beat what was in front of them. Now, of course, Hughes has no control over who the opposition might be in the last eight. All he can do is keep his fingers crossed that Lady Luck remains on his side by ensuring the match takes place in Edinburgh where, in the SPL, Hibs enjoy a home record second only to that of the Old Firm.

Indeed, Celtic and Rangers are the only clubs to emerge victorious from Easter Road in the league although St Johnstone saw to an early exit from the Co-operative Insurance Cup, a record which would give reasonable grounds for optimism whoever pitches up next month. The quarter-final draw will take place at Hampden just a few hours before Hibs entertain Aberdeen in the Capital, the timing no doubt ensuring Hughes will pay it no more than a passing glance as he prepares for the beginning of what promises to be one of the toughest periods of the season, the visit of the Dons followed in rapid succession by a trip to Ibrox and then journeys to St Johnstone and Motherwell.

• Derek Riordan nicks the ball away from Montrose's Chris Hegarty

It's a schedule which promises yet another close examination of Hibs' credentials to be tagged the best of the rest although they remain within touching distance of second-placed Celtic, raising hopes that they may even end up splitting the Glasgow sides come May.

Goals, of course, have helped nourish the feelgood factor which has descended on Easter Road over the past few months, the five scored in this match taking Hibs' tally to 14 as they've clocked up four successive victories.

Almost as important to Hughes, though, was the fact that, while Anthony Stokes with 14 and Derek Riordan, now on 11, have grabbed most of the headlines hitherto, the goals are being shared about, on this occasion two for Colin Nish, a trademark rocket from Riordan while Abdessalam Benjelloun and debutant Alan Gow added late strikes to highlight inequality of this particular contest.

Watching Merouane Zemmama, Benji and Gow, signed on loan until the summer, appear as second-half substitutes to add impetus to the home attack said it all for Montrose boss Steven Tweed, the former Hibs star observing: "You look at the quality of player coming off their bench and look round at mine where I had a couple of 16-year-olds."

Tweed's comment was made not with any sense of envy but realism, the ex-Easter Road defender appreciating the quality of the squad Hughes has assembled, one which many believe, should they continue to enjoy an essence of luck, could well go on to end Hibs' 108-year wait for this piece of silverware.

Although he'd obviously love to think so, Hughes abruptly jumped to his feet and left on being asked if he thought this was Hibs' year, rather than be tempted into making any rash predictions, knowing full well that while only three games now separate his side from lifting what he himself has described as "the Holy Grail", the potential 270 minutes which would require to be negotiated contain plenty of pitfalls.

Montrose goalkeeper Andy McNeil, a winner of the CIS Cup with Hibs three years ago and a major reason why his old club didn't add to their five goals as he turned in an impressive performance, was, however, not so reticent. He said: "I don't want to jinx them by saying it is going to be Hibs' year, but if they can avoid the Old Firm before the final anything is possible."

It's a quest Riordan would dearly love to fulfil, pointing out how his fateful spell with Celtic – in which he picked up a Scottish Cup winners' medal as an unused substitute – coincided with McNeil enjoying that epic day out at Hampden. He said: "When I played here first time we never won anything.

"I go to Celtic, don't play much and they go an win a cup when I wasn't here.

"The Hibs fans in the side like Ian Murray, Colin and myself know all about the club's history and the Scottish Cup while the gaffer has also brought it up. We know we'd go down in history if we were to do so. It would be a great achievement. All we can do is go out and do our best in every round."

• Alan Gow marked his Hibs debut with a goal

Riordan and his team-mates took another step towards that goal with what boss Hughes described as a "professional" performance against the Gable Endies, Nish helping more than a few fans who fancied the odds on offer of 5/1 that Hibs would score within the opening five minutes. He duly did so, pouncing to rattle home the rebound after McNeil had got a hand to Riordan's low shot just seconds after superbly parrying a Liam Miller effort.

As he might have anticipated, McNeil found himself the busiest player on the pitch, touching over a dipping Riordan shot and then Nish's looping header and, after Nish had added a second, superbly pushing away two further efforts from Riordan.

Montrose, though, had their moments, Hugh Davidson taking a fresh air shot at a Stevie Nicholas cut-back before Hibs' first goal while Easter Road goalkeeper Graeme Smith was forced to claw the ball away from the feet of John Gemmell. If the writing was on the wall at half-time, Montrose hauled themselves into the game after the break only for Riordan to flash a stunning shot beyond McNeil. Hegarty threw Tweed's players a lifeline by drilling a low shot into the corner of Smith's net but Benji and Gow sealed victory although Nish should have completed his hat-trick only for McNeil to pull off another notable stop.

Job done at the first time of asking was as much as Hughes could ask for, the tie negotiated without the need for a replay in a hectic programme, a fact appreciated by the manager who knows the likes of Rangers, St Mirren and the Dons will all have an extra match they'd rather have avoided.

Hughes said: "It was a good professional performance. We got the early goal, might have scored one or two more although that would possibly have been harsh on Montrose.

"But you have to give credit to Montrose, you could see in the last ten minutes they were out on their feet. To me they are the real heroes.

"They are the guys who work from eight to five, go training three nights a week and then play on a Saturday just for the love of the game.

"I was obviously disappointed with the goal we lost but perhaps on their second-half performance Montrose deserved it.

"However, we saw again there are goals in our team and it was good to see them shared about."

TEAMS

HIBS (4-3-3):

Smith, Wotherspoon, Hogg, Hanlon, Murray, Miller, McBride (Zemmama 61), Rankin, Stokes (Gow 69), Nish (Benjelloun 69), Riordan

Unused substitutes: Stack, Stevenson

MONTROSE (4-4-2)

McNeil, Milligan, McNally, Campbell, Crighton, Fleming (Sinclair 61), Hegarty, Maitland (Tomama 8), Davidson, Nicholas (Boyle 85), Gemmell

Unused subsitutes: Coutts, Nicol