The sun shines on Leith

BEN ENGLISH

WHEN Hearts dismantled Hibs in the first meeting of the sides this season away back in August, the marketing men at Tynecastle wasted no time in capitalising on their success. In a move that did little for relations across the Edinburgh divide, they released a video of the game and called it Demolition Derby. Well, standby for the sequel. Demolition Derby II will star yesterday's goal-scorers Guillaume Beuzelin and Garry O'Connor as the heroes, the red-carded Edgaras Jankauskas as the villain and will have a supporting cast of thousands of joyous Hibs supporters.

The Hearts supporters slunk out of Easter Road. Now that their record-breaking beginning to the season has been brought to an end, their thoughts will be firmly focused on who is going to take over at Tynecastle - and when.

It looks likely that a director of football as well as a coach will be appointed and the list of names piles higher by the day. Take your pick from Claudio Ranieri, Sir Bobby Robson, Otmar Hitzfeld, Wim van Hanegem, Julian Clary, Ant 'n Dec and the fat bloke from Lost.

The Jambos will be taken out of their misery sometime this week. Not a day too soon as far as they are concerned.

Enough of Hearts. They have hogged the headlines for too long. Deservedly so. But yesterday was all about Hibs.

Tony Mowbray called this "an enjoyable afternoon" in the same way a lottery winner might talk of "a stroke of luck at the weekend". It was a massive day for the Hibs manager, not just because his team ended Hearts' 12-match unbeaten run in the league but because they have now narrowed the gap at the top to four points. Meanwhile, they are six clear of Rangers who sank further into the mire yesterday when they could only get a draw at home to Inverness Caley Thistle.

Mowbray continued preaching his mantra about Hibs not being a realistic threat in the championship race despite mounting evidence to the contrary. He spoke, understandably, about the lack of depth in his squad and the havoc a run of injuries might wage on their challenge. "We're only 13 games into the season," he said. "We've not added to our squad since last season and we finished 32 points behind Rangers. It's too big a gap to bridge but we'll keep plodding away and picking up points where we can."

The three yesterday were richly deserved. Jankauskas's petulance helped, in fairness. The Lithuanian was booked just before half-time for testing referee John Underhill's patience once too often, and was shown the red card after 17 minutes of the second half when reacting, stupidly but not maliciously, to a foul by Scott Brown.

A minute earlier, John McGlynn, the caretaker manager at Hearts, took Julien Brellier off in part because his fitness was waning and Hibs were beginning to run through him at will but also because he was on a yellow card. McGlynn feared he might be sent off but he got the wrong man.

Hearts already had their hands full before Jankauskas walked. A man down, their job now became an impossible one. The red card was a turning point but so, too, was the arrival of Irishman Ivan Sproule in the 66th minute. Sproule's pace caused Hearts all manner of difficulties and it was his ball across the area that brought the opener for Beuzelin.

"When they went down to ten men the secret was to get round the back of them, to get to the byline and pull it back," said Mowbray. "We never really felt threatened by them. But the danger was in us putting three men up and then allowing ourselves to get picked off on the break. We showed good game knowledge.

"You never say you're expecting the goal to come but we were on the ascendency before they were reduced to ten men. We were forcing the game. This is a young team. They're inexperienced in terms of winning matches. When we scored they had to react. They came out and we got the second."

McGlynn said he never saw the first goal coming, which was a bit of a surprise, to be frank. "I felt very confident that we weren't going to concede. We weren't playing great but Craig [Gordon] didn't have a lot to do. Hibs had a lot of the ball but there were no great goal-scoring opportunities."

The temporary manager felt that the red card was soft but he made no excuses for Jankauskas, saying that he's an experienced boy and he should have known better. "Down to ten men, it was difficult. At best it was going to be 0-0 at that stage but Sproule cut one back for the first and we didn't defend a corner properly for the second. We're normally good in those situations."

Not that he had any answers but McGlynn was asked about the new director of football in any case. What could he say? Vladimir Romanov had not taken him into his confidence. He knew nothing. All he did know was what life was like at the coalface. Hearts, he said, are in for a tough week ahead of Saturday's meeting with Dundee United. "We need to stay strong now," he added. "This is a kick in the teeth but we need to stick together."

Unity was not a problem for Hibs people last night, of course. "Derbies are about the supporters," said Mowbray. "Our supporters have taken a lot of flak since the last game [the 4-0 slaughter] so I'm delighted for the team and I'm delighted for the fans."

Taken from the Scotsman