Gretna 0 Hibernian 1: Fletcher on target to keep Hibees buzzing

Steven Fletcher underlined why he is the jewel in Hibernian's remarkable youth development system with a sublime finish yesterday that sent his side back into joint second place in the Scottish Premier League.

The Edinburgh club have earned almost £12 million by selling their best talent over the last 18 months but the manager, John Collins, believes that Fletcher will eclipse the £4.5m fee for Scott Brown's recent transfer to Celtic.

The Scotland Under-21 striker conjured up a 52nd-minute volley to give Hibernian their first victory since they won at Rangers over a month ago. For poor Gretna, this was their 11th defeat out of 13 in their treacherous top-flight baptism.

Gretna's principal problem is that they just cannot buy a goal. They have scored just one goal in 10 and a half hours of league football – against leaders Celtic, of all teams – but the bottom club showed no shortage of commitment here. David Irons' team matched Hibernian in every aspect, apart from creating scoring opportunities.

The visitors might have been ahead after just two minutes when Filipe Morais saw his venomous shot pushed wide by the goalkeeper, Greg Fleming.

Fleming then bravely blocked at the feet of Mikael Antoine-Courier, breathing a sigh of relief when Morais sent the follow-up over the unguarded net. Courier was sufficiently hurt to leave the pitch soon after and then Guillaume Beuzelin limped off too, to upset Collins' plans.

Rob Jones thumped a header against the bar 10 minutes before the interval from a corner by Morais and when Lewis Stevenson returned the ball into the box, Jones directed his header wide.

Hibernian's hunger was demonstrated by Morais forcing a fine save from Fleming early in the second half while Ross Chisholm's 20-yard shot was narrowly wide.

However, Fletcher's accuracy was unerring when Clayton Donaldson's run opened up Gretna and Stevenson clipped the ball back to allow Fletcher to thrash a left-foot finish beyond Fleming.

Gretna responded with Gavin Skelton stabbing a shot just wide from David Graham's fine play and then James Grady volleyed over the bar. Three minutes from time, Grady got in behind the Hibs defence to gather Skelton's pass and produce a clever lob over the goalkeeper, Yves Makalambay, that bounced narrowly wide, before Graham forced the keeper to produce a stoppage-time save.

ScotTISH PREMIER LEAGUE