Christian Doidge’s fortuitous winner spared Hibernian’s embarrassment as they laboured past League 2 strugglers Forfar Athletic in the Scottish Cup fourth round.

But it was head in hands for the Forfar number one when he failed to claim a free-kick and could only watch the ball bounce off Doidge and into the back of the net.

Ray McKinnon’s fourth-tier side had numerous chances to hit the front as they threatened the Premiership outfit with a cup shock.

A bumper crowd in Station Park were roused in the early stages as Forfar twice hit the woodwork.

Seb Ross’ instinctive scissor kick cracked off a post, before Stuart Morrison’s header from a corner brushed the opposite upright.

Newell’s spot-kick had the opportunity to make up for youngster Rudy Molotkinov’s skewed header, but McCallum’s strong stop added to the sense of unease in the Hibs ranks.

It could have been much worse if Morrison had managed to bury either of his big opportunities to score, with the visiting defence not sure if they were going for the ball or a bridie.

The second period became more fraught and frantic as both sides traded blows as Doidge scuppered a pair of chances and Ross was denied by a strong David Marshall save.

With Nick Montgomery’s men struggling to find inspiration in Angus, their slice of fortune was a huge sigh of relief as they progressed to Sunday’s last-16 draw.

What they said

Forfar manager Ray McKinnon: “The players can be really proud. They put in a big shift and played some good football. They created a lot of chances against a very good Hibs side in the first half. We’ll be disappointed not to take anything out the game.

“The guys were excellent today. It’s a sore one to take. On chances, we created more chances. I’m really pleased for the lads. They’ve been building up that performance level for three or four weeks.”

Hibernian manager Nick Montgomery: “At half-time, it wasn’t good enough and I told the boys. You can’t turn up here and think it’s going to be easy. There were some scary moments in there, but we’re through to the next round.

“All credit to them, they made the game difficult. If anything, we made the game difficult for ourselves in the first half.