Hearts enjoy fiesta feeling

Hearts (1) 4 Hibernian (0) 0

On the day the Edinburgh Festival officially opened, it was Hibernian who found themselves on the fringe. After only two matches of this campaign, they are five points behind Hearts, who sit on top of the Scottish Premier League on goal difference.

More worryingly for those of a green-and-white persuasion, the scoreline flattered their team, whose incompetent defending, bordering on the suicidal at times, should have been more heavily punished.

With the outstanding Paul Hartley orchestrating events from midfield, Hearts imposed their will on this contest from the first whistle.

They took the lead after eight minutes with a goal which Hibernian's manager, Tony Mowbray, would most certainly have felt was preventable.

Kevin Thomson lost possession and Hartley's through ball should have been dealt with by Steven Whittaker, but he was slow to react and Rudolf Skacel followed up, Roman Bednar's initial shot to prod home his second goal in as many appearances.

Hibernian, who had looked vulnerable from the outset, were weakened further when Scotland defender Gary Caldwell suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Whittaker atoned for his earlier error by deflecting a netbound Andy Webster header behind as Hearts threatened to steamroller their rivals.

The visitors' frustration was evinced when Mowbray, concerned by the number of decisions going against his players, was ordered from the dugout following an outburst at referee Stuart Dougal.

"There was no foul language and I didn't raise my voice," Mowbray claimed. "I was merely expressing an opinion and I was surprised by the referee's decision." Kevin Thomson came closest to an equaliser in the 49th minute. Spotting Gordon off his line, the midfielder chipped the ball over the goalkeeper but it bounced on the wrong side of his left-hand post.

The fluency which characterised the home side's first-half display was largely absent after the interval and Hibernian were in the ascendant when they shot themselves in the foot in the 61st minute.

Stephen Glass needlessly handled the ball as he tried to usher it away from Hartley, who drove the resulting penalty low to Zbigniew Malkowski's left.

"That was a turning point," conceded Hearts manager George Burley. "We were looking a little ragged at that point. Then again, they were fortunate to be only one behind at the interval." Even the introduction of last season's top scorer, Derek Riordan could not turn the tide.

Indeed, more calamitous defending presented Hearts with a third goal when Gary Smith miskicked a Lee Wallace cross into the path of Stephen Simmons, who curled a right-foot shot behind Malkowski from 15 yards.

The Polish goalkeeper looked equally negligent when he allowed a speculative 35-yard shot from Saulius Mikoliunas to beat him.

"We'll bounce back," said Mowbray. "After all, we lost the first derby last season."

Match details

Hearts (4-4-2): Gordon; Neilson, Pressley, Webster, McAllister: Mikoliunas, Brellier (Wallace 68), Hartley, Skacel; Elliot (Simmons 52), Bednar (MacFarlane 74).
Subs: MacDonald (g), Cesnauskis, Berra, Tierney.
Goal: Skacel (12), Hartley (pen 61), Simmons (71), Michelins (83).
Booked: Skacel, Bednar.
Hibernian (4-4-2): Malkowski; Whittaker, Caldwell (Hogg 26), Smith, Murphy; Stewart, Beuzelin, Thomson, Glass (Sproule 63); Konte (Riordan 63), O'Connor.
Subs: Brown (g), Morrow, Murray, Shiels.
Booked: O'Connor, Beuzelin, Glass, Whittaker.
Referee: S Dougal.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk