Hibs make capital gains

STUART BATHGATE
AT TYNECASTLE

NO-ONE at Tynecastle or Easter Road is about to admit that the league race between Hearts and Hibs is over for the season, but after last night’s 2-1 win for Tony Mowbray’s side, few impartial observers would doubt the outcome.

After Lee Miller had opened the scoring for the home team in the first half, second-half goals from Garry O’Connor and Dean Shiels gave Hibs the victory which means they are now eight points clear of their city rivals. Aberdeen, who lie fourth, may yet come into the equation, but, having had their noses ahead for much of the season in the bid to become best of the rest, Hibs do not look like faltering now.

Their victory was all the more commendable given how it came. Out of the match for most of the opening 70 minutes, they came back strongly, but only after the departure of two of the players who are usually among their most important. Ian Murray and Derek Riordan were both on yellow cards and in danger of being sent off when Mowbray decided to substitute them. On came Kevin Thomson and Amadou Konte, and the latter in particular made a difference, making life awkward for a Hearts defence which had looked quite comfortable up to that point.

Having been criticised for getting his substitutions wrong at Hampden on Saturday, Mowbray might have been entitled to gloat after getting it so right last night, but instead responded with his usual good grace.

"First half we didn’t turn up," was the Hibs manager’s verdict. "We actually competed in the second half."

Although clearly delighted by the win - especially for goalkeeper Simon Brown, whose error had allowed Hearts to take the lead - Mowbray insisted there was still some way to go in the league battle.

"It makes it difficult for them, but at the same time they’ve got another opportunity in a couple of weeks at Easter Road," he added. "We feel at home we’ve got a pretty decent record.

"But there are six massive games to go, and you’ve seen already this season that points can disappear very quickly."

The overall picture, however, is that Hearts have never yet managed the sort of sustained run which would really unnerve their opponents. In the first half of the season they were not scoring enough goals. Since the recruitment of Miller they have gone a long way to solving that problem, and their three Lithuanians have added real quality to the squad, but they have still suffered some unforeseen reverses.

John Robertson, the Hearts coach, accepted that fighting back now from fifth would be a tall order. "It was a sore one to take," he said. "We won all the challenges in the first half and were playing the better football. It will be hard now. It’s a massive ask, you’ve got to be honest, but we’ve got to keep going. There are still a lot of big games to be played."

Steven Pressley, the Hearts captain, said he was to blame for the loss of Hibs’ first goal, even though it looked like it arose from a mix-up between Craig Gordon and Jason Thomson. "I think we did enough to merit a draw, but after their first goal we lost our composure a wee bit," he added.

Normally mild-mannered, Pressley reacted angrily when asked how hard it would be to restore his team-mates’ morale and persuade them they should not give up the fight to finish third. "I’m not even going to answer that question," he said. "We would never give up."

The defiance is commendable - indeed, necessary for any true professional in that position. A cold look at the league table, however, suggests that the balance of power in the city has swung decisively, for this season at least, towards the east.



Taken from the Scotsman