Hibernian bounced back from their derby defeat to Hearts by enhancing their European hopes and inflicting further misery on bottom-placed Dunfermline.

Chris Killen struck twice in eight minutes midway through the second half to ease John Collins' men to victory and leave Pars boss Stephen Kenny still seeking a first win in charge.

The Fifers had frustrated Hibernian in the first half, but the home side were improved after the break and could have scored more.

Kenny has now watched his side fail to score in their last four games and they dearly need a marksman.

Collins took the decision to drop error-prone goalkeeper Zibi Malkowski from his squad, his patience with the Pole having run out when he gifted a goal in the 3-2 loss to Hearts on Boxing Day.

Teenager Andrew McNeil, the Scotland Under-19 goalkeeper, made his debut and Simon Brown was named on the bench.

Collins also handed young winger Jamie McCluskey a rare start with Dean Shiels and Ivan Sproule banned.

Captain Kevin Thomson was back on the bench after injury, but flu-stricken trio Michael Stewart, Scott Brown and Killen all proved their fitness.

Stephen Simmons and David Murphy traded early long-range shots, both of which went well wide, before the game settled down into a tactical affair with the visitors containing Hibernian.

Steven Fletcher almost unlocked the defence in the 11th minute but his ball back from a dangerous Steven Whittaker cross found no takers.

Seven minutes later Brown screwed a shot wide after Dorus De Vries had palmed away McCluskey's cross.

As Hibernian upped the tempo, Killen was denied by De Vries after a Brown knock-down, but the New Zealand forward had been flagged offside in any case.

The home fans were growing impatient at Hibernian's failure to carve out clear chances.

Stevie Crawford, back from suspension, and Mark Burchill were consistently dropping back to bolster the midfield and limit Hibernian to few openings.

In a rare attack from the visitors, Burchill hooked a weak shot into McNeil's arms. Stewart dragged two poor efforts wide at the other end to sum up the hosts' half.

Prompted by second-half substitutes Thomson and Abdessalam Benjelloun, Hibernian were a changed team after the interval.

Whittaker almost broke the deadlock when he surged forward to collect a neat Murphy pass and fired an angled drive just over.

Mason was perhaps lucky to escape a second yellow card on 59 minutes when he appeared to shove Murphy at the touchline, but referee Iain Brines refused to be influenced by irate home fans.

Centre-back Rob Jones then nodded a back-post header into the side-netting from Thomson's free-kick.

The Pars passed up their best chance when Burchill did brilliantly on the left to pull a cross back for Crawford, who turned to sidefoot a 16-yard shot just past the right-hand post.

And seconds later the visitors were made to pay for that miss when Hibernian netted a 63rd-minute opener.

Brown fed Killen on the edge of the box and the striker turned superbly to drive a shot into the bottom left-hand corner.

De Vries then injured himself palming away another Killen effort, and the Dutchman was replaced by Roddy McKenzie.

It went from bad to worse for Dunfermline when Hibernian struck again after 71 minutes.

Souleymane Bamba was adjudged to have handled Thomson's corner in the area and Killen fired the spot-kick into the right corner for his 14th goal of the season.

Mason drove just wide for the Pars as they searched for a lifeline, but Stewart, Benjelloun and Brown all could have added to Hibernian's tally before the final whistle.

Teams:

Hibernian McNeil, Whittaker, Martis, Jones, Murphy,Beuzelin (Benjelloun 46), Stewart, Scott Brown,McCluskey (Thomson 46), Killen, Fletcher (Glass 68).

Subs Not Used: Simon Brown, Stevenson, McCann, Campbell.

Goals: Killen 63, 72 pen.

Dunfermline De Vries (McKenzie 65), Shields, Wilson, McGuire,Young, Simmons, Muirhead, Bamba (Tod 80), Mason, Crawford,Burchill (Daquin 67).

Subs Not Used: Scott Morrison, Ross, Woods, Williamson.

Booked: Young, McGuire, Mason, Bamba.

Att: 14,061

Ref: I Brines (Scotland).