Garry ends Bobby's wait for victory

HIBS 1-0 HEARTS

DAVID HARDIE AT EASTER ROAD

IT SHOULD have been a moment for everyone at Hibs to savour, a long-awaited derby win over arch-rivals, Hearts, boss Bobby Williamson’s first triumph over the Gorgie outfit since taking control at Easter Road.

Unfortunately, thanks to the mindless actions of one idiot, the shine has undoubtedly been taken off the moment.

Instead of Williamson and his players basking in the limelight of what many probably saw as an unexpected win over Hearts, today the headlines are focused solely on this moron’s actions in getting onto the pitch at half-time.

He’ll certainly end up in court but Hibs’ image has again been tarnished by the unthinking behaviour not only of this particular individual but those who poured onto the pitch to celebrate Garry O’Connor’s last-gasp winner.

Such misplaced celebrations after the UEFA Cup win over AEK Athens almost two years ago cost Hibs a hefty fine and now they can expect similar action from the SFA.

You could put the mini-pitch invasion after referee Stuart Dougal sounded the final whistle down to youthful exuberance - unwanted as it is - but it was the moron who dashed from the west stand which will be worrying officials at Easter Road most today. The club have promised to take "appropriate" action against him and while they were anxious not to prejudge the issue ahead of an expected court appearance, their form of punishment could take the form of a life-ban from Easter Road.

The incident, and the invasion at the end of the match, will also be central in the debriefing between police, stewards and Hibs which takes place after every game at Easter Road.

And one question which needs to be answered will be how did the clown involved manage to get so close to Dougal without the intervention of a police officer or a steward, the first person to do so actually being Hearts goalkeeper Tepi Moilanen rather than those who are paid to deal with such incidents.

The SFA will take a dim view of the incident and Hibs can expect a hefty fine - one which they can hardly afford given their well- documented financial problems.

This particular individual’s moment of madness, let’s make it clear, cannot be condoned in any way. There is simply no place for it in football.

However, it is easy to understand the anger which was coursing through his veins at that particular moment, in fact, every single Hibs fan inside the ground probably felt the same way. Thankfully the other 10,000 or so were able to contain their emotions, electing only to give Dougal a deafening round of boos to reflect their opinion of what had been a totally inept performance by the referee over the course of the first 45 minutes.

Having made a rod for his own back with early bookings for Mathias Doumbe and Scott Severin, Dougal failed to recognise that derby matches need to be handled in a certain manner. But even his heavy-handed approach didn’t explain the red card shown to Hibs’ Grant Brebner for a foul on Robert Sloan on the halfway line.

Brebner himself admitted afterwards he thought the referee had made a mistake in the colour of card he produced, his incredulous look as the expected correction failed to materialise mirrored on the faces of virtually everyone in the ground, Hibs and Hearts fans alike.

At that moment Hibs were in the ascendancy after a nervy opening few minutes, Jarkko Wiss having fired a terrific shot off Moilanen’s right-hand post before the Finnish goalkeeper managed to block Derek Riordan’s angled shot only for the ball to rear up over the head of the in-rushing Brebner.

The midfielder’s departure, with only 37 minutes played, appeared to give Hearts the upper hand with Williamson, looking for his first derby win at the sixth time of asking, admitting he felt the fates had conspired against him once more. He said: "I did think at the moment ‘here we go again’, but you try to stay positive in these situations. We’ve seen it before that ten men can get results."

Given Hibs’ recent derby record, though, when even 11 men had contrived to surrender leads which looked like giving them all three points, there weren’t many draped in green-and-white who shared his optimism at that particular point. And, to be fair, there were points during the second half when the ten men left on the park for Hibs rocked although, credit to them, they ran around like dervishes, throwing themselves into tackle after tackle to cover the absence of Brebner.

Mathias Doumbe and Yannick Zambernardi in particular were immense, as was goalkeeper Daniel Andersson who recovered from a couple of poor kick-outs early on to ensure Hibs made it six points out of six at the start of this new season with a superb block from Steven Boyack.

That stop came within 90 seconds of substitute Garry O’Connor firing Hibs into a seemingly impossible lead, latching onto a pass from Stephen Dobbie to drill a low shot under Moilanen’s body at his near-post. O’Connor’s finish sent three-quarters of Easter Road into ecstasy but the work of Dobbie and 18-year-old Scott Brown in chasing down Hearts midfielder Scott Severin before dispossessing him said more than a little about the fitness of Hibs, a team which was prone to gifting the opposition late goals last season but which has now won games in successive weeks by virtue of late, late strikes of their own.

Williamson said: "It was hard for them to take, us scoring so late. But we have scored late against them and they’ve managed to get back into it.

"On this occasion, though, we stayed strong, we perhaps rode our luck at times and Andersson brought off a good save after they went behind."

Williamson, ever the pragmatist, had insisted past derby results counted for nothing, refusing to dwell on his record of five matches without a win although on three of those occasions it was his side’s propensity to leak late goals which had cost them victory.

Asked how he felt to finally get a win in this fixture, he said: "Fantastic, the atmosphere was tremendous. The Hearts fans headed home disappointed, our supporters were out to party and we want to see more times like these at Easter Road." Williamson, naturally, admitted he was disappointed to see Brebner sent off, claiming that up to that point the midfielder was playing some of the best football he’d seen from the midfielder although he refused, diplomatically, to comment on Dougal’s dismal performance.

But he was able to give his view on the outcome of the game, declaring: "I felt that win was definitely overdue.

"We play different types of football. Hearts have a target man that we don’t possess but I thought we defended well against Mark de Vries.

"There was no respite for us when they replaced him with Kevin McKenna, another big one. We don’t have that option and we have to work that bit harder at creating and scoring our goals."

That said, though, Williamson, as a former striker himself, could appreciate the quality of O’Connor’s finish.

He said: "He maybe surprised a few people, but not me. You were hoping he could make a good connection and he rattled it, his goal was his reward for hard work."

And that moment which separated the sides is what should be the talking point today, not the mindless behaviour of the minority which spoiled it, to an extent, for the majority watching this pulsating game.

Taken from the Scotsman