Hibernian brushed their way past near neighbours Dunfermline to cut Celtic's gap at the top of the Premier League to four points, for a day at least.

Ulrik Laursen's fifth minute goal put the home side on their way to their 13th victory in 20 league games and the visitors rarely troubled goalkeeper Nick Colgan.

The sending off of Pars midfielder Rob Matthaei only compounded Jimmy Calderwood's side's problems although they did manage to keep the score down to a respectable level.

David Zitelli and Mixu Paatelainen were the other scorers but the final 45 minutes belonged to Russell Latapy, whose approach play for the Frenchman's goal was as good as it gets.

Dunfermline must have regarded the dressing room at the break as a welcome sanctuary so confused was their first half performance.

But they must also have been pleased they were only a single goal down, whatever trepidation they felt for the forthcoming 45 minutes.

Hibernian had taken only five minutes to take hold of the game and it was the Danish wing-back Laursen who supplied the opening goal, his first for the club he joined in the summer.

It began with a long, floated pass from Gary Smith to Zitelli, who controlled it and rolled it into the Dane's path.

There was still some work to be done but Laursen, in full flight, was equal to the task by first slipping past challengers Lee Bullen and Justin Skinner before slotting calmly past goalkeeper Marco Ruitenbeek.

Dunfermline could offer little in response and although their backline was robust in its challenges, particularly when Paatelainen was throwing his not inconsiderable weight around, there was nothing worthwhile created when they had the ball.

Lengthy midfield head tennis sessions were a feature of the half and Latapy, the pint-sized entertainer, was forced to watch and wait for a decent ball to land at his feet.

Eventually he received a few and tormented Pars defenders occasionally without any end product emerging until after the break.

In the 32nd minute Dunfermline's task of competing against such an obviously superior side became an even harder one when Mattaei was dismissed.

His crime was to take a kick at Stuart Lovell that, like much of his team's play, was pretty inaccurate but was enough for referee Kenny Clark to have understood its intent and brandish a straight red card in his direction.

It was a startling moment, although the two had been spotting having a run-in seconds before the incident, which took place on the hoof in the centre circle.

Straightaway Hibs passed up simple chances supplied by Zitelli passes when first Paateelainen and then John O'Neil failed to hit the target from close range with the Dunfermline defence in all sorts of disarray.

Their three man back line regained their former stubbornness for most of the remainder of the match but were undone 10 minutes into the restart by some pure footballing magic.

Zitelli was the name on the scoresheet but it was Latapy who deserved all the plaudits.

He controlled a through ball at speed, slipped past the last defender and, as the box frantically began to fill up with red shirts, negotiated his way past the goalkeeper while rapidly running out of pitch and then was still able to turn and calmly set up the Frenchman for a far post tap in.

Latapy was the architect of a far more prosaic third goal, a simple prod forward for the Finn to get their first ahead of a goalkeeper who perhaps didn't fancy a collision with such a bulky opponent.

Top scorer Paatelainen stabbed the ball into an unguarded far corner to record his ninth goal of the season.

The chances were far and few for Dunfermline although Stevie Crawford was denied a consolation by the crossbar with 10 minutes to go.