Champions Glentoran continued their pre-season preparations with a decent showing in going down 2-0 to Scottish Premier League side Hibernian at the Oval.

With the new campaign just two weeks away the Glens looked impressive for long periods of the game, especially in the second half, and their fans should be happy with the way Alan McDonald’s men are shaping up ahead of their latest title tilt.

The Edinburgh side went in front after just two minutes thanks to a stunning strike from Merouane Zemmama.

The Moroccan international was allowed too much room on the edge of the box and, after slipping past a couple of lightweight challenges, slammed a superb left-footed drive into the top corner.

To be fair to the Glens their backline was lacking in experience — even with record appearance maker Colin Nixon in the middle — with Paul Leeman rested after picking up a knock in the midweek European defeat to Maccabi Haifa, and Johnny Taylor suffering an illness.

Johnny Black, William McBurney and Andy Hall made up the rest of the back four.

Gary Hamilton, Shane McCabe and Andy Waterworth were also missing from the starting line-up.

Zemmama was proving to be the danger-man for Hibs and he saw a shot trickle past the post on nine minutes after showing terrific skill, again on the edge of the area.

The youthful Glens side were certainly not overawed by their opponents and indeed were playing some very neat football at times with new signing Richard Clarke showing how important he will be to the champions’ attempt at retaining the newly rebranded Carling Premiership crown.

However the east Belfast men found themselves two down midway through the first half when ex-Celtic striker Derek Riordan curled a brilliant free-kick around the wall from 20 yards.

Their own best chance of the first half arrived on 29 minutes when, after a mistake by John Rankin, Matty Burrows found himself with only the keeper to beat from around 12 yards but Yves Ma-Kalambay made a great stop.

Then just before the break Michael Halliday crossed into the box for Burrows who just couldn’t get on the end of it.

The Glens made a host of changes at the interval with Hamilton, Waterworth, McCabe, Jimmy Callacher, James Taylor and Craig Harris all entering the fray.

And Callacher certainly made his presence felt within minutes of the restart as he went in hard on Zemmama who reacted, causing a minor melee on the halfway line.

The Glens were a lot better for their changes and showed even more of a willingness to attack and though Ma-Kalambay was largely untroubled in the Hibs goal the second half was a little more evenly matched, if a bit stop-start with a number of niggly tackles breaking the pattern of the game.

GLENTORAN: Morris, Nixon, Black, McBurney, Hall, Fordyce, Fitzgerald, Clarke, Neill, Halliday, Burrows. Subs: James Taylor (GK), McCabe, Hamilton, Waterworth, Southam, Callacher, Harris.

HIBERNIAN: Kalambay, Zanten, Hanlon, Hogg, Bamba, McBride, Zemmana, Cregg, Nish, Riordan, Rankin. Subs: Flynn, Murray, McCormack, Byrne, Galbraith, Thicot.

REFEREE: Trevor Moutray (Belfast)