Hibs deliver six of the best

Edinburgh experienced contrasting bouts of grief and elation yesterday evening. A 6-2 scoreline in a local derby tends to have that effect.

The parties raged on in the east; in the west, they were looking for scapegoats. Before Hearts had even suffered their mauling at the hands of a stylish and ruthless Hibs team, a clutch of supporters wielded a banner suggesting "Robinson Must Go". Perhaps a more likely victim of this humbling defeat may be Jim Jefferies.

Trying to discern Jefferies’ mood from his facial expression has always been a futile exercise. In victory or defeat, the Hearts manager has never been in any danger of being mistaken for a ray of sunshine. So yesterday, the day the roof fell in, you wondered just how those lugubrious features could manage to register these titanic levels of disappointment.

He didn’t disappoint, bearing the despondent aspect of a man who could hire himself out as a mood-setter for funerals. Jefferies dismissed newspaper suggestions that he was in imminent danger of the sack and reports that he had an untenable relationship with Hearts’ chief executive, Chris Robinson.

"We have a working relationship," Jefferies said in tones that didn’t really conjure images of the two men sharing a cheery jar at the end of the working day. "OK, I don’t agree with everything Chris does and he doesn’t agree with everything I do, but that happens; we still have a working relationship."

Jefferies acknowledged that this defeat had been his worst experience as a manager. Objective observers might feel he was entitled to unload some of the blame on a Hearts administration that has been slow to offer him much in the way of team-strengthening resources.

Season after season of seeing his best players graduating from the youth ranks, excelling in the first team and then sold, like fattened cattle, to Rangers or Everton, have taken their toll on Jefferies’ reserves of optimism, but he’s a manager who rarely goes in search of excuses.

"No other club in the SPL has lost the numbers of quality players we have in the last couple of seasons," he said. "It’s not easy to lose good players, and try to replace them every year, but that wasn’t the problem today. We had players out there, quite a few players, who couldn’t match Hibs for passion. I don’t think they have shown the sort of passion and commitment you need in a derby."

Jefferies lamented his team’s inability to maintain a positive start, identifying their inclination to defend too deeply as being at the root of their problems. "The scoreline certainly didn’t flatter Hibs. Poor defending in the second half cost us goals, but we caused ourselves problems in the first half by not getting forward enough."

By marked contrast, the Hibs manager celebrated a weekend double for the clan McLeish in the Scottish capital. One of the football world’s cautious souls, Alex McLeish wasn’t ready to start scouting out next season’s prospective Champions League opponents just yet. In fact, he seemed determined to play down the significance of his achievement.

"I still think that Rangers and Celtic will be too strong over the marathon," he said, in expectation-dampening mood. "But if we take care of the home games, as top teams have to do, then I think we have as good a chance as anybody of finishing in the top three."

Hibs’ main obstacle to maintaining their position is their habitual cringe as soon as they set foot in Ibrox or Celtic Park. "One of the mysteries of life," was McLeish’s explanation for Hibs’ inability to reproduce their scintillating home form in away fixtures.

Mcleish has two years left on his contract and isn’t rushing into any extension, although he did go as far as saying that he is happy at Easter Road. He isn’t getting carried away with a superb start to the season.

McLeish, rather than glowing in triumph, was still a little disgruntled at Hearts’ late consolation goal, but that’s his perfectionist streak.

"The spirit’s good, the football is good and we’ve got some very players," he said, exercising his understatement mode. "John O’Neil showed what a real player he is, great with both feet and he has fantastic guile. But every team needs a balance and Mixu Paatelainen has given that since he came to the club.

His No9, Paatelainen, was a little more fulsome in his delight, admitting that it had been one of the most satisfying games of a long career. He had played better he conceded, but couldn’t really have any problem with a game in which he had scored three times. His last hat-trick had been for Finland, against San Marino, who are probably a (marginally) worse side than Hearts.

As to Hibs’s long-term prospects of remaining as high in the SPL, he matched his manager’s caution. "We have to wait and see. So far we have been magnificent and we can maybe keep it up for a couple more weeks. After that, well there’s a long tough winter ahead. Everybody will be needed."

Paatelainen attempted to console his Finnish chum Antii Niemi as the players were walking off. The goalkeeper who had let in six wasn’t exactly receptive. "I spoke to Antii after the game," Paatelainen said. "He asked me how many I scored, I said three and he said something in Finnish, which I won’t repeat."

You can bet Jim Jefferies could have provided a verbatim translation.

Taken from the Scotsman