Riordan shot lights up derby

MIKE AITKEN AT EASTER ROAD

Hibernian 1 Riordan (25)
Hearts 1 Pressley (pen, 46)

THERE was plenty of sound and fury at Easter Road, but the scarcity of invention left this an Edinburgh derby which will linger in the memory only for a wonderful goal from Derek Riordan of Hibs and a captain’s contribution for Hearts from the peerless Steven Pressley.

The relentless pace of this contest hardly worked in favour of those who wanted to put their foot on the ball. Paul Hartley emerged last season at St Johnstone as a player capable of winning games from central midfield. His touch in open play yesterday was commendable and his 70th-minute free-kick turned on to the post by Daniel Andersson was as close to a winning flourish as Hearts could manage.

Having started the more sluggish outfit, Hibs were in control of the game after Riordan put the home side in front. Their hopes of winning the derby, though, took a dent before a minute of the second-half was completed. Once Pressley scored from the spot-kick won by the persistence of Mark de Vries, there was little or nothing to choose between the sides.

Hibs looked as if they might have more individuals in attack capable of producing something special - Riordan and Scott Brown are young men capable of troubling any defence on their day - but the bulwark provided by Pressley, Andy Webster and Kevin McKenna limited Bobby Williamson’s men mostly to shots from outside the box.

The loss of Phil Stamp through a knee injury on top of Scott Severin’s long-term absence following a hernia operation meant Hearts were unduly reliant on Hartley to make anything positive happen.The former Hibs man offered the link between midfield and attack and invariably caused a problem from a deep position whenever he joined the strikers. Unlike the Hibs youngsters, Riordan and Garry O’Connor, though, De Vries and Wyness were too static to bother their markers.

Levein’s decision to field a 5-3-2 formation was partly designed to compensate for a lack of quality personnel through force of numbers. Patrick Kisnorbo’s switch from left-back to a holding role beside Neil Macfarlane was also recognition of the Australian’s recent struggles at full-back. Alan Maybury switched flanks and contained Alan Reid pretty well. Although the full-back was one of Hearts’ better players, he may be in hot water with the SFA after TV highlighted the defender allegedly lifting his hand against Brown.

Hearts had the better of the opening 20 minutes or so without ever looking lethal in front of goal. The three centre-backs won just about everything in the air, but Macfarlane and Kisnorbo rarely made a pass which troubled Hibs.

True, there was a half-hearted claim for a penalty when a De Vries header brushed against Colin Murdock’s arm and Andersson had to make a decent save when De Vries got on the end of Hartley’s cross. But, there was a laboured dimension to Hearts’ work going forward which must have comforted the home side.

Hibs, in fairness, were not exactly a hugely creative force themselves. Riordan, certainly, should have done better in front of goal than shoot weakly after Roland Edge’s tempting cross set up the chance.Though too young to remember Popeye, the youngster had digested enough spinach by the 25th minute to make ferocious contact with the ball and dispatch a shot which flew past Craig Gordon into the roof of the net.

When O’Connor spread the ball to the left flank there seemed little threat of danger, until Edge made a clever dummy run down the flank and opened up space for Riordan to break inside. Even so, there was still much work to be done. The combination of precision and power which distinguished the striker’s 25-yard effort with his right boot was exceptional.

Hibs were probably fortunate to retain 11 players on the field when Brown’s late challenge on Pressley before half-time went unpunished by referee Mike McCurry.The teenager had already been cautioned for a foul on Maybury early on, which was harsh to say the least. Even so, this tackle was reckless enough to earn a straight red on its own merits. The referee’s disinclination even to warn the youngster about his conduct was a sure sign the official had given the players a special derby-day dispensation.

If the possibility of a Hearts’ equaliser from open play had looked remote, Murdock’s careless challenge on De Vries with less than a minute played in the second-half gave Levein’s men the opportunity to equalise from a penalty. As he did against Aberdeen last week, Pressley made an expert job of scoring from the spot with a firm right-foot shot away from Andersson.

The Swedish goalkeeper had a more active role to play when Hartley’s swerving free-kick looked destined for the top right-hand corner, until Andersson got a hand to the ball and diverted the shot onto the post.

Hibs failed to concoct anything as clear-cut in the second period, when Gordon in the Hearts goal had little cause to wipe the sweat from his brow. It was an afternoon when the outfield players rolled up their sleeves, dived into fierce tackles and did their level best to ask no quarter.

Where the game fell short was in the quality of the work on the ball. In terms of open play, neither side showed much ambition to pass the ball with the same ruthless conviction which typified their willingness to stop the opposition playing.The Edinburgh derby held the attention of the 15,000 crowd until the end, but few will recall more than Riordan’s goal in a week’s time, unless it’s the moment when the arrival of a rugby ball on the pitch allowed both sets of supporters to share a chuckle over Hearts’ proposed move to Murrayfield.

Hibernian: Andersson, Caldwell, Murdock, Doumbe, Edge, Reid (McManus 65), Wiss (Whittaker 70), Thomson, Riordan (Dobbie 81), O’Connor, S Brown. Subs not used: A Brown, Nicol.

Hearts: Gordon, Maybury, Webster, Pressley, Kisnorbo, Neilson, Hartley, Macfarlane, Wyness (Weir 60), De Vries, McKenna. Subs not used: Moilanen, Kirk, Sloan, Janczyk.

Referee: M McCurry. Attendance: 15,060

Taken from the Scotsman