Fringe first whets capital fans' appetite

HIBERNIAN 0-1 HEARTS

STUART BATHGATE AT EASTER ROAD

Referee: T Brown. Attendance: 10,090

THOSE turning up with low expectations of this match - and that was probably the bulk of the crowd, which just reached five figures - found themselves pleasantly surprised. The inaugural Bank of Scotland Festival Cup lacked the dramatic dénouement of last season’s three Edinburgh derbies, but it was a decent, competitive football match, as close to the real thing as it is possible to get when points are not at stake.

And that was the point of it. No matter the prior publicity suggesting the game would place sport at the heart of the capital’s celebration of the arts, this was about two teams, and two sets of fans, preparing themselves for the coming season.

The hordes of Japanese tourists were conspicuous by their absence. The Californian theatre workshop groups were plying their noble trade elsewhere. The odd piper apart, this was just Hearts and Hibs getting stuck into each other in time-honoured tradition.

The difference between the teams - perhaps a little wider than the scoreline suggested - was that, while having just as great an appetite as their opponents, Hearts were more controlled. Hibs were so ravenous they simply wanted to sink their teeth into the fare before them: their visitors were at least willing to use the cutlery.

What is more, that difference persisted throughout. Once they had taken an early lead through an Andy Webster header, Hearts looked as likely to score a second as Hibs did to equalise, and it was only some hesitant finishing which prevented them from doing so.

Ian Murray fluffed the home team’s best chance when he shot wide a few minutes from time, although the closest the ball came to entering the Hearts net was actually in the first half when Tepi Moilanen had to look sharp to save a low, misdirected header from Steven Pressley. That, however, was a rare occasion on which Hearts failed to clear their lines cleanly.

Pressley and Webster were generally comfortable at the back, and striker Mark de Vries also turned up to good effect in defence at set pieces. Neil MacFarlane and Steven Boyack were the dominant influences in midfield, although Hibs’ Jarkko Wiss put in a lot of decent work in the first half, while Yannick Zambernardi showed a willingness to carry the ball out of defence in search of openings.

At times, there were players on both sides who appeared too willing to show how seriously they were taking the match. Thankfully for them, the refereeing was sympathetic, for otherwise half-a-dozen names would have been in the book.

Given the nature of the officiating, it was understandable that Austin McCann and Tam McManus should have been allowed to stay on the field after wrestling on the deck in an unseemly fashion. Several bookable tackles having gone unpunished, it was only right their attempts to do damage to one another should receive no more than a yellow card, although they must know similar behaviour in a league match would have seen them sent off.

‘Derby defeats will always hurt people at Hibs, whether the game is a friendly or not’- BOBBY WILLIAMSON
"Things like that happen in every derby game," McCann said. "The two of us were going for the ball. I know Tam from my time at Airdrie and there’s no problem with him. The referee dealt with it quite well."

For McCann’s manager, the main thing to come out of the game was that his injury list had not lengthened. With seven players unavailable, Craig Levein could do without having more ruled out before the visit of Aberdeen on Saturday. "I’m just glad to get through it without any serious injuries," he said, "because it was very competitive, and that augurs well for the start of the season.

"We played some reasonable stuff when we could, but I’m always very cautious about pre-season games. There’s no substance until the season starts."

And that remark will apply not only to the game in five days, but also to the second league fixture the following week, which is back at Easter Road.

"The minute you go on that pitch on a derby match you start from scratch," Levein warned. "It’s a blank sheet of paper."

Bobby Williamson, for one, will take comfort from that analysis, as he is still in search of his first derby win since becoming Hibs manager. "They still hurt whether they’re friendlies or not," he said. "I felt it was quite even in the first half, then they got their noses in front. In the second half we had a lot of pressure, but they looked capable of breaking away and getting that second goal."

Williamson will welcome the early opportunity to get the maroon monkey off his back, as a win against Hearts could help restore his squad’s collective confidence. He will need no reminding of the boost given to the Tynecastle side by their 5-1 derby win on the second weekend of last season.

The Festival Cup itself, on the other hand, could do with having a bigger gap before the next derby, so that it might appear more of a competition in its own right and less of a dress rehearsal. The trophy could also do with making a public appearance in the hands of the winning captain, rather than being kept out of sight on police advice.

This was, all the same, a promising first outing. The participation of such giants of the game as Barcelona and Bayern Munich may be some way off, but for the moment, enough Edinburgh football supporters appear willing to turn out to see their old home favourites.

Hibs: Hyldgaard (Andersson 45), Orman, Wiss (Brebner 64), Smith, Doumbe, Zambernardi, McLaren, Murray, Brown (Riordan 45), Dobbie (O’Connor 45), Glass (McManus 64).

Hearts: Moilanen (Gordon 45), Kisnorbo (Neilson 45), McCann, Pressley, Webster, Severin, Boyack (Janczyk 87), MacFarlane, De Vries, Kirk (Wyness 70), Sloan (Hamill 45).

Taken from the Scotsman