A first-half strike from new signing, Èlie Youan cancelled out a fast start from Burton who opened the scoring inside the first five minutes.
Elias Melkersen bagged himself a brace in the second half before Nohan Kenneh provided the finishing touches to an emphatic victory.
Much like the friendly with Hartlepool, Johnson opted to put out two different XI’s in each half, to get a good look at all of his players before they fly back to Edinburgh on Sunday.
Hibs Starting XI: Dabrowski, Miller, Porteous, McLelland, Stevenson, Kenneh, Newell, Tavares, McGeady, Doidge, Youan.
It was Burton Albion who started the game the better of the two sides and took an early lead from a set piece. A free kick from outside the area took a deflection off the wall and came back off the post. Gassan Ahadme was on hand to tap in the rebound and give the English League One side an early lead.
Although Burton started in the ascendancy, the Hibees hit back five minutes later and equalised through new signing Èlie Youan.
The goal came from the middle of midfield – Kenneh nipped in to dispossess the Burton midfielder before Joe Newell took over and drove purposely into the opposition half.
He picked out Youan, the Frenchman took one touch to get the ball out of his feet before unleashing his shot from distance which cannoned in off the inside of the post.
The goal certainly seemed to settle the Hibees and give the boys confidence. Youan was causing havoc with his pace in behind, he beat the offside trap to latch onto a ball over the top from McGeady. With options in the middle, Youan opted to go for goal himself but his shot hit the side netting.
In a similar fashion to the Hartlepool game earlier this week, Lee Johnson’s side looked dangerous from set-pieces. There were several well-worked corners and free-kicks that created space and opened up shooting chances for green and white shirts – Aiden McGeady went the closest to testing the Burton ‘keeper with a shot from 25 yards out following a quick free-kick.
As the game progressed, Hibs grew more and more into the game. Newell was picking up excellent pockets of space and new signings Jair Tavares and Lewis Miller looked lively down the right-hand side. Once again Lewis Stevenson, put in another solid shift at left-back.
Hibs second half: Marshall, Cadden, Bushiri, Brydon, Doig, Doyle-Hayes, Campbell, Delferriere, Hauge, Henderson, Melkersen.
In the opening exchanges of the second half, the Hibees had an early scare and David Marshall was forced into action, pulling off an excellent save to deny Gilligan. The danger wasn’t over yet though, and it took two excellent blocks from Chris Cadden before the danger was averted.
The early chance didn’t seem to faze Hibs and moments later, we were up the other and took the lead through Elias Melkersen.
It was a brilliant team goal, Jake Doyle-Hayes played in Henderson on the edge of the area, who had the vision to find Josh Campbell with a clever reverse pass.
Josh did well to get his head up and fired a cross in towards Melkersen who showed his striker’s instinct – getting in front of his man at the front post to steer the ball in with a first-time finish.
Runar Hauge was having another impressive showing down the right-hand side, creating several chances for his teammates. Josh Campbell went close before Rocky had a header cleared off the line from a corner.
It was a matter of time before we scored our third and it eventually came, once again through Elias Melkersen.
Jake Doyle-Hayes found Runar in space with an excellent forward pass. Driving at the Burton defence, Hauge played a well-weighted pass into his Norwegian teammate – Melkersen made no mistake with the finish, rifling his effort into the bottom left-hand corner – his second goal in five minutes.
Melkersen nearly completed his hat-trick in fifteen minutes, Chris Cadden picked him out with a pin-point cross which Melkersen met on the volley. His effort came back off the crossbar but the linesman had his flag up for offside.
Henderson had a golden opportunity to make it four. Cadden once again was the orchestrator, he delivered a teasing ball to the back post towards Henderson, who fired over from six yards.
A clever move from Burton got them back into the game. Williams Kokolo hit the by-line and pulled it back for arriving midfielder, Ciaran Gilligan who fired home from 12 yards out.
Any hope of a Burton fightback was quickly put to bed. With 15 minutes to go, new-signing Nohan Kenneh, who was substituted back on, added a fourth from just inside the penalty area. The midfielder did well to spin and get his shot away which took a deflection on its way in at the front post.
The Hibees pushed for a fifth in the closing stages of the match. Chris Cadden drew a couple of fantastic saves from Garratt in goal, in what was a lively second-half performance from our 2021/22 Player of the Year.
Lee Johnson’s side will now fly back to Edinburgh on Sunday, before an important week ahead as we prepare for our first competitive match of the season – Clyde at home on Saturday 9 July.
