Aussies Abroad: Winning return for Maclaren

Caltex Socceroos striker Jamie Maclaren has enjoyed a winning start on his return to Scotland as Hibernian opened the Premiership season with a big win over Motherwell.

Maclaren only finalised his season-long loan deal from his German club Darmstadt 98 to Hibs and started on the bench at Easter Road.

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And he saw his side dominate from the outset, running out 3-0 winners to give Neil Lennon’s men the ideal start to the 2018/19 campaign.

Goals to Stevie Mallan and Oli Shaw had the home side leading 2-0 at the break, before Martin Boyle added a third early in the second half to ice the result.

Maclaren – who scored eight goals in 13 appearances last season for Hibs – played the last 25 minutes, while compatriot Andy Rose got through a full game for Motherwell.   

Elsewhere, Danny Vukovic was back in goal for RKC Genk as they hosted Sint-Truidense in the Belgian Pro League.

And despite taking the lead midway through the second half through Ruslan Malinovskiy, the home side was unable to hold on and conceded just a few minutes later when Wataru Endo scored to end the match 1-1.

It was the only shot on target for the visitors as Vukovic was reasonably untroubled for much of the match, but Genk dropped their first points of the season to sit in third spot.

Meanwhile, Young midfielder Aiden O’Neill started again for Premier League side Burnley in one of their final pre-season friendlies.

The Clarets took on Spanish La Liga outfit Espanyol, conceding twice in the second half to go down 2-0.

O’Neill has featured heavily for Sean Dyche’s side in the pre-season and could be in line for a start in the club’s Premier League season opener away at Southampton on Sunday (AEST).

Young defender Fran Karacic started in Croatia for Lokomotiva Zagreb, who picked up a hard-earned draw on the road at heavyweights Hajduk Split.