Hibernian 1 - 1 Hearts

John Robertson, the Hearts manager, gave the clearest indication yet that the off-field problems at Tynecastle are causing him growing frustration and concern.

Despite being appointed only two months ago, his comments after yesterday's Edinburgh derby made it clear he feels he is being hampered in his efforts to improve the club.

After a commendable 1-1 draw against Hibs he appeared perplexed at the uncertainty surrounding his team.

Hearts are £19.6m in debt and have seen Vladimir Romanov's plans to buy into the club delayed until February, long after the transfer window closes.

Twelve of his first-team squad are out of contract in the summer and Robertson doesn't know how much money he has to bring in replacements.

To add to his frustration, a bunch of around 20 players from eastern Europe are being shipped in for a behind-closed-doors trial match in Edinburgh this week. Anatoly Byshovets, the director of football at Tynecastle, ordered the game, which has been sanctioned by Romanov.

Asked what input he had into the trial match, and what had been going on at Hearts over the past few months, Robertson shrugged his shoulders and said: "It's not my club. I'm just the manager."

He admitted he had no idea what players would be coming in or going out this month.

"We have approached Stevie Crawford [the Plymouth Argyle striker] and hopefully he might come to the club but it is now down to our chief executive Chris Robinson to try and produce," he said.

"We have had two or three enquiries about players and we have scouted a few ourselves. However, until someone sits down and tells us what we have or do not have, we cannot do anything."

Against such a background, to come away with a draw from Easter Road against a Hibs side third in the table was a worthy achievement.

A gutsy display earned them a point after an opportunist equaliser from Paul Hartley, the former Hibs player, cancelled out a first-half strike from Derek Riordan.

They were helped in no small measure by some dreadful misses by home strikers Garry O'Connor and Sam Morrow and a half-time substitution from Tony Mowbray which confused his players.

It was a strange encounter which veered from exciting passages of play to tedious kick-and-rush stuff. Gordon Strachan, a lifelong Hibs fan, was in the crowd and must have despaired at times at the lack of creativity in the middle of the park from both sides.

Hibs shaded the first half and were worthy of their half-time lead.

A mistake by Hartley, who dallied too long on the ball, allowed Stephen Glass to take it away from him. O'Connor lined up a shot which was heading for the corner flag but deflected off Dean Shiels into the path of Riordan, who finished well.

The game changed in the dressing rooms at half-time.

Robertson sent his team on to the pitch a full five minutes before Hibs, with the order to play 4-3-3 and his full-backs told to push up.

Mowbray decided to replace wide right midfielder Alen Orman with striker Morrow and the new space in the middle was exploited by Hearts.

During the first 20 minutes of the second half Hibs looked uncertain, allowing Hearts to take complete control. Hartley made amends for his earlier error with a fine equaliser after a Robbie Nielson throw-in was flicked into his path by Graham Weir.

Andy Webster hit a post with a header minutes later and it looked as though Hearts would come away with a win. However, Hibs managed to steady the ship, shore up the midfield and came back into the game. Easy chances were missed late on by O'Connor and Morrow.

Other talking points surrounded a challenge on Hartley by David Murphy which the Hearts player and his manager claimed should have seen the Hibs man sent off.

They made a real song and dance about the incident but television pictures suggested Hartley had fallen over his feet rather than been fouled.

"I felt it was a stonewaller and I was clean through on goal when Murphy took the back of my legs," said Hartley, even after seeing the television pictures. "Despite that, it was great getting my first derby goal. I had a nightmare two years when I was a Hibs player and to come back here and score is very pleasing."

Judging by Riordan's celebration when he opened the scoring he was equally as chuffed. "I loved it," said the Hibs striker, who was pelted with pies when he scored. "I've always wanted to do that since I was a wee laddie and I didn't listen to any of the abuse the Hearts fans were shouting."

Mowbray admitted his half-time substitution may have back-fired but felt his side were unlucky not to win.

"That half-time substitution may have not worked but then again Sam [Morrow] when he came on had chances to be our match-winner," said Mowbray. "I felt we could have won but it was a shame that not more chances fell to Derek [Riordan], who takes more care in front of goal than one or two others."

Taken from the Herald