ANTHONY Stokes produced a moment of magic to put Morton to the sword in Andy Bryan’s testimonial against Celtic in July last year.

And although the Irishman made a scoring return with Hibs to separate the sides at Cappielow last night, the goal was giftwrapped this time.

After working their socks off to frustrate the title hopefuls for the first half, Ton undone their efforts inside two minutes of the restart when a Lee Kilday error ended with Stokes stabbing into the net.

Against Rangers eight days earlier, Kenny Miller took advantage of a fortunate break to open the scoring before Barrie McKay combined with the former Scotland star to cut Ton open.

But a side boasting attacking talents such as Stokes, Liam Henderson, John McGinn, Dylan McGeouch and James Keatings tried and failed to break down Jim Duffy’s well-drilled side.

That it was a giveaway goal and not one Alan Stubbs’ men had to earn is what was so frustrating for the hosts.

This was a game devoid of goal-mouth action in which neither side looked like scoring, and that was attributable to both the Ton’s disciplined defending and ineffective attacking in equal measure.

In terms of shape and approach, boss Duffy selected the same starting XI that lost 2-0 to the Gers and sent that side out with a similar gameplan: to contain and stifle the visitors and hit on the break.

This was successful for the most part, with Hibs managing just one effort on target in the first 45 minutes despite their territorial control.

On eight minutes, left-back Lewis Stevenson fired in a low cross which ran right through the middle of the 18-yard box before breaking to right-back Niklas Gunnarsson arriving on the opposite flank.

The Norwegian, a recent loan signing from Valerenga, took a touch and rifled a harmless strike the wrong side of the near post and into the advertising hoardings at the Wee Dublin End.

At the opposite end, Ross Forbes worked the ball onto his left foot and let fly from 25 yards, clearing the crossbar with a swerving shot.

Injured Hibs defender Liam Fontaine, who went down rubbing his hamstring, was then replaced with Paul Hanlon on 12 minutes.

It was not a switch that would make a significant change to the pattern of play, with the Edinburgh outfit probing for an opening.

They were, however, struggling to find that chink in the Ton armour. They were pushed wide or funnelled down into the seemingly impenetrable defensive wall.

There was an increasing frustration as their play broke down in and around the box, with the final pass either cut out or overhit, running out of play or through to Derek Gaston.

Evidence of that creeping vexation and lack of craft and ideas came in the form of Fraser Fyvie’s hopeful shot from in front of the defensive shield that sailed high and wide on 39 minutes.

It took until 41 minutes for the League Cup finalists to hit the target and press underworked goalkeeper Gaston into action.

Celtic loanee Henderson fashioned the opportunity, pushing down the left before working back on himself and swinging a cross into the danger area.

Striker Keatings found space in the box and met the centre with a powerful header which Gaston, demonstrating lightning reflexes, acrobatically flipped up and over the top.

It meant that, unlike the recent Rangers game, the initial objective of getting in at half-time on at least a level footing had been achieved.

Yet, all that good work was undone within two minutes of the restart, when a rush of blood to the head saw Kilday try to thread the ball through a gap between two Hibs men to Joe McKee. The pass was never really on and was intercepted by John McGinn, who quickly pushed on into the path of Stokes pulling away to the right.

Striker Stokes has spent the best part of the season on the bench at Parkhead and looked rusty as he took a sluggish touch, allowing Kilday a second bite at the cherry to retrieve the situation.

The Ton skipper hesitated for a split-second, though, and a panicked Stokes stabbed the ball past a rooted Gaston on his right-hand side and into the net for his second in two appearances.

Within a minute, the former Falkirk frontman had almost doubled his tally, exchanging a one-two with Keatings that was reminiscent of Miller and McKay’s, before prodding woefully wide.

Thereafter, Morton offered a decent response, getting on the front foot more and flooding forward into promising positions in the final third.

Unfortunately, the problems that have seen them score just once in their last five outings, including the abandoned match at Alloa Athletic, were on display.

There was a lack of quality about the final execution when it came to performing that key pass, cross or effort on goal.

Barr did pick out Johnstone with a precise cross on 50 minutes, but the Birmingham City man saw his looping header land on the roof of the net.

Declan McManus was giving it everything he had to cause the visitors problems and seized on a slip by Hanlon to rush in and beat Mark Oxley to the ball only to knock beyond him and out for a goal kick.

The reigning League One Player of the Year then fastened onto the ball after tenacious play by Thomas O’Ware inside the opposition box before failing to find the target with a whipped shot.

Left-back Mark Russell was gliding forward effortlessly on the left while Barr drove at the opposition on the right, with the latter’s substitution greeted with a hail of boos from the fans.

But, despite the pair’s best efforts, that final moment of clarity, that incisiveness in and around the opposition box, just wasn’t there for the hosts and goalkeeper Oxley went untested all night. Stokes, on 68 minutes, and Henderson, on 82 and 89 minutes, managed to get themselves into reasonable shooting positions for the visitors but sent powerful strikes straight at Gaston.

Ton then sent O’Ware up top as an emergency striker and brought on Michael Tidser and Jai Quitongo in the closing stages to give the Easter Road side something different to consider.

Stubbs’ side played for time at every opportunity as the clock wound down, but despite the frustrations that brought, Ton looked like they could’ve played for another 90 minutes without finding the net.

The painful reality was that an unconvincing Hibs never looked much like scoring either and that was why Stokes’ soft goal stung so much. Otherwise this match had goalless draw written all over it.