Race for second place wide open once again

Hibernian 2 - 1 Hearts
Michael Grant at Easter Rd

IF Hibs are swimming against the tide in terms of trying to hang on to Hearts’ coat-tails these days, then at least an afternoon like this provides a respite from the relentless bragging they have had to put up with from Tynecastle.

When these clubs played the Tennent’s Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden 21 days ago Hibs were not up to the journey and folded to a 4-0 defeat. Some of their players and supporters might have been depressed by the thought of having to return to Edinburgh at all that Sunday, but last night they were home again and walking around Leith with a strut.

What a delicious combination of rewards this narrow, hard-fought victory brought them. A derby victory counts among the most satisfying wins of a campaign regardless of the immediate circumstances, but for Hibs there were the additional advantages of maintaining their own prospects of qualifying for the Uefa Cup and – sweeter still – jeopardising Hearts’ chances of finishing second and qualifying for the Champions League.

Rangers have no end of work to do to rescue second place for themselves, starting at Celtic Park today, but it is in their own hands again and if they finish with four straight victories they will be runners-up and Hearts third.

Hibs have conceded four goals against their city rivals three times this season, in two visits to Tynecastle and one to Hampden. At Easter Road they are still able to dictate the tone and tempo of the derby, though, and this victory complemented the 2-0 result which inflicted Hearts’ first defeat of the season back in October.

There was little that was exceptional or even attractive about the way Hibs won this time – although the execution of their two goals was of the highest class – but the aggression and commitment they brought to the play proved to be irresistible against a Hearts team which again had an unfamiliar, perplexing look.

Poor defending resulted in Hibs conceding an equaliser, but, yet again, the self-inflicted wounds which mattered most were those perpetrated by Hearts.

This was the fifth Edinburgh derby of the season and Valdas Ivanauskas had the distinction of being the first Hearts manager to survive for two of them. But the continuity was restricted to the visitors’ dug-out because the team sent out in maroon had a couple of players conspicuous by their absence.

Andy Webster was unused for the third game running and watched from the stand despite the omission through injury of central defenders Steven Pressley and Jose Goncalves. The suspicion remains that Webster may be irretrievably out of favour at Tynecastle as he will not discuss a contract extension beyond the current deal which ends next summer. It is reasonable to wonder if he will play for Hearts again.

“It’s not my call,” said goalkeeper Craig Gordon when asked for his thoughts on Webster’s omission. “That’s for people higher up than me at the club.” The point was carefully made: not necessarily Ivanauskas, just “people higher up” at the club.

Ivanauskas would only talk about the game when it would have been more interesting to hear why two such important figures were missing. With Rudi Skacel and Julien Brellier also relegated to the substitutes’ bench, Hearts had the look of a side with most of its spine missing.

At the outset it had been the visiting supporters who had a spring in their step. In a throwback to the late 1980s some were carrying inflatable bananas but they were quickly deflated – the fans, not the bananas – when Hibs scored their controversial opener after quarter of an hour.

When Ivan Sproule crossed the ball hard and low into the box, after Jay Shields had won possession with an aggressive but legitimate tackle on Paul Hartley, it had seemed as though Hearts might escape punishment because Steven Fletcher was in an offside position. But when he did not make contact and allowed the ball to continue on its journey the referee, Charlie Richmond, concluded that he had not interfered with play.

When Derek Riordan had the time to bring the ball under control and rifle a right foot shot into the corner of Gordon’s net the goalkeeper was sufficiently furious to chase after Richmond in a furious but predictably futile gesture of complaint.

That had the potential to be a truly incendiary moment but the game never boiled over beyond being a simmering, niggly sequence of little battles which strangled the life out of the creative players. Hibs were a little more successful at escaping from the midfield quagmire to create occasional chances but neither keeper was being significantly troubled and had it not been for a defensive error Hibs would certainly have held their lead until half-time.

The unreliability of Hibs’ defence and goalkeepers – Zbigniew Malkowski and Simon Brown have been as guilty as each other – has consistently undermined Tony Mowbray’s efforts and the self-inflicted wound in first half stoppage time was one of many to have exasperated the Easter Road support.

Robbie Neilson booted a long ball for Roman Bednar to chase. Gary Caldwell seemed to have addressed the danger but then he slipped. Bednar was in, but Malkowski reached it only to spill the ball back to Bednar’s feet and invite an easy finish.

Hearts were more successful at stretching Hibs in the second half and ought to have scored again when Ibrahim Tall, a George Burley signing who had to wait until yesterday for his first start, headed wide when unmarked in the goalmouth.

By then Scott Brown was off the bench having missed 12 games through injury, but it was Hibs’ other substitutes who won it.

Paul Dalglish held up the ball and laid it into the path of the Moroccan Abdessalam Benjelloun, who took a touch to his right before drilling home a low, emphatic finish. He was booked for running back the length of the field to celebrate a little too provocatively near the Hearts support – but that was the least of their worries.

Taken from the Scotsman