IT was, as John Collins observed with considerable satisfaction, a good week for Hibs. Three wins, a place in the CIS Cup final, and yesterday the defeat of last season's Tennent's Scottish Cup finalists. And, to cap it off, Hearts crashed out of the competition too.

Hibs' determination to hold on to Scott Brown during the transfer window could now bring not just one, but two, items of elusive silverware to Easter Road this season. The dissident midfielder was named man of the match after a tireless peformance, and he had to be good to pip the electric Ivan Sproule.

Gretna, who took Hearts all the way to penalties at Hampden in May, carried just too many injuries into this tie. The incapacitated included goalkeeper Alan Main, who has a virus, and although his 20-year-old replacement, Greg Fleming, played well in only his second game for the club, he conceded a cruel own goal which put Hibs in cruise control.

"I was very proud of the boys," said Gretna manager Rowan Alexander. "I thought they did fantastically well, especially in the first half. We had some good opportunities to go ahead but were let down by the final ball."

The introduction of Abdesslam Benjelloun at the start of the second half was a match-winning move by Collins, as the substitute forced the own goal and then added the third himself for good measure. With five goals from five games, only one of them a start, he is in a rich vein of form as Hibs continue to prosper without injured centre forward Chris Killen.

He will get a regular opportunity soon if he keeps up this rate of striking, although as Collins pointed out: "When the opposition are a bit tired and he's fresh he can be an instant threat." He certainly was yesterday.

Gretna, a much changed and younger side from the one which lost to Hearts in May, were definitely the livelier and more creative team in the opening 20 minutes. Their endeavours were assisted by the shaky starts made by the Hibs central defensive pairing of Shelton Martis and, especially, captain Rob Jones.

Whether it was the sticky surface, or just that the big men were stiff-limbed following Wednesday night's extra time win over St Johnstone, both looked vulnerable to the darting runs of Colin McMenamin and, coming in off the left, David Graham.

Hibs, giving starts to young midfielder Sean Lynch and striker Ross Campbell, looked threatening on the break too, with the speed of Sproule the principal source of discomfort to Gretna's defence. Brown, now committed to Hibs until May and with much to do to appease the many supporters he alienated by agitating to leave the club, was tireless.

Gretna had a good chance to take the lead in the 13th minute when Hibs goalkeeper Andy McNeil failed to collect cleanly and Martin Canning snatched at an overhead kick when his team-mate Matthew Berkeley, facing the goal, was better placed to shoot.

Despite their good movement up front, Gretna were failing to create openings and it took a freak incident to give Hibs their biggest fright. Steven Whittaker's lashed clearance rebounded almost immediately off Allan Jenkins and screwed back just beyond McNeil's left hand post.

That, and a fine 35 yard shot by right-back Craig Barr which forced McNeil into a low save, was about all that remained for Gretna's sizeable support to savour on an afternoon when the game started to run away from them.

The instrument of their demise was Brown who, despite the close attentions of Jenkins and Erik Paartalu, was still finding room to manoeuvre as he covered every blade of grass. This time he appeared on the right, got the better of left-back Danny Grainger and looked up before dispatching a measured cross in the direction of his captain. Jones, a schoolboy centre forward, nodded in assuredly at the far post to put Hibs ahead.

Gretna fell off the pace almost immediately and when Collins replaced Campbell with the more experienced Benjelloun at the start of the second half their fate was sealed.

Sproule, who by now was causing carnage down the right and had been unlucky with a flashing shot across Fleming's goal, set Benjelloun up after another skinning of poor Grainger, a player who had contrived to find himself in the wrong place on the wrong day.

The chance at first appeared to have been lost as Chris Innes blocked inside the box, causing the Hibs substitute to fall. From there he managed to win back the ball, though, and once he had regained his footing he sent a shot crashing against Fleming's right hand post. As the ball rebounded back it hit the desperately unlucky goalkeeper and found the net to put the home side two ahead.

That was in the 53rd minute and before the hour had been reached it was all over. Once again it was Benjelloun, this time with a crisp shot from just inside the box.

By now the energy running through a rampant Hibs side was threatening to tear Gretna apart and undo all their first half efforts to erase memories of their 6-0 CIS Cup annihilation. Fortunately for Alexander and company it didn't happen and there was even a deserved late goal for Berkeley to ease the pain.

Even so, the Hibs fans rose to their feet at the end to applaud a vibrant second half performance. Kevin who?