Hibernian 1-0 Hearts

Hibs took a first-half lead when Rob Jones blasted in a close-range shot, following a corner kick.

Scott Brown was unlucky not to increase the advantage when his effort clipped the foot of static Hearts keeper Craig Gordon and flew wide of the target.

Hibs dominated from start to finish and created several late chances to make the margin of victory more comfortable.

The home side welcomed back Brown and Chris Killen from suspension with Steven Fletcher and Guillaume Beuzelin dropping to the bench.

Hearts skipper Steven Pressley recovered from a virus to take his place in defence, with Deividas Cesnauskis missing out.

Hearts adopted a new-look three-man central defence and they were opened up after nine minutes when Michael Stewart slipped a pass to David Murphy and the full-back's low cross found Killen.

But the striker's first-time shot was blocked by defender Christophe Berra on the edge of the six-yard box.

Hibs were forced into an early change when Stewart limped off and was replaced by Beuzelin.

Despite the disruption, the home side were doing most of the pressing, with Ivan Sproule causing Hearts problems with his pace down the right flank.

Killen warmed the hands of the hands of Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon with a powerful strike from 20 yards.

And the home side went in front from the resulting corner on 32 minutes.

Merouane Zemmama's delivery was brought under control by the out-stretched boot of Jones and, after one bounce, the big centre-half crashed in a shot from close range.

Hibs went very close to a second goal soon after when Brown played a great one-two with Zemmama but the midfielder's low stab from eight yards struck the foot of the exposed Gordon and bounced wide.

The keeper comfortably gathered a 25-yard Zemmama free-kick but he had to scramble as Murphy's similar effort curled just wide as the first half came to a close.

Goalscorer Jones made his aerial presence felt when his glancing header flew narrowly wide 10 minutes after the re-start.

Sproule continued to see a lot of the ball but his distribution and final pass consistently let him down in promising situations.

The home fans were shouting for a penalty when Berra bundled Killen to the floor and Beuzelin went close with an ambitious chip from a tight angle.

With ten minutes remaining, Killen hooked a shot wide as Hibs continued to push their city rivals back.

The impressive Beuzelin then threatened with a header after a flowing move involving Steven Whittaker and Zemmama but Hibs had to settle for just the single goal in a one-sided game.

Hibernian: Malkowski, Whittaker, Martis, Jones, Murphy, Scott Brown, Stewart (Beuzelin 14), Thomson, Zemmama (Benjelloun 90), Sproule (Fletcher 73), Killen. Subs Not Used: McNeil, Hogg.

Booked: Murphy, Killen, Thomson.

Goal: Jones 32.

Hearts: Gordon, Goncalves, Berra, Pressley, Tall, Neilson (Barasa 55), Mikoliunas (Mole 66), Aguiar, Hartley, Zaliukas (Makela 83), Velicka. Subs Not Used: Banks, Fyssas.

Booked: Zaliukas, Mikoliunas, Tall.

Att: 15,825

Ref: C Murray

Taken from the BBC