Don't let anyone tell you different - we were unlucky.
We were unlucky in having a manager who fucked up big time.
We were not tactically equipped to come back from a goal behind. The 4-5-1 we started with was an interesting idea, but once the goal was lost, through midfield inefficiency (cos Jefferies had put his two tackling midfielders, Simpson and Severin out wide, leaving a soft centre of Fulton, Cameron and Jackson - answers, please, on a postcard - hallo, anyone?) and Petric's inexperience (as though he'd forgotten how fast the Scottish game is: of course, playing for Rangers it might not be so quick) Jefferies needed to make changes straight away either by juggling the formation or by making an instant substitution. Instead he kept on, and on, and on, and Hearts were still in chaos when Hibs smacked in the second.
What was especially needed was another forward, because after that first goal the Hibernian defence didn't have a second's bother. Sauzet was outstanding, but if you've nothing to do, you'd blooming well better be outstanding. If anyone didn't put their mortgage on Grouser's words 98/99, then here it is once more: Adam simply don't give a damn no more. Of course the game would have been different (and Adam would have played better) if McSwegan had been fit: in one sense, Hearts were a bit unfortunate, to field two debutants (Niemi, Simpson) and another two who've played no more than five between them (Leclerq, Petric), but that made Jefferies' tactical plan (which overstates it a bit, mind) even more puzzling: surely keeping things tight was to our advantage. Everyone knows what derbies are all about: experience and team spirit counts for so much, and it wasn't surprising that Hibs were up for it and we weren't, even before Jefferies' odd tactical decisions.
But to think that some people feel this is the worst of times . . . Christ, it's like the 1970s hadn't happened. For some of us, the word 'Cropley' still brings out a rash.