Collins savours derby victory

By Ewing Grahame

Hibernian (1) 1 Hearts (0) 0

A first-half goal from former Grimsby Town central defender Rob Jones was enough to earn Hibs the local bragging rights and, more importantly, a place in this afternoon's draw for the semi-finals of the CIS Insurance Cup.

It represents a marvellous start to management for John Collins, who clearly savoured this victory over their derby rivals.

Hearts' season continues to unravel. Eliminated from two European competitions by the end of September and already out of the championship, this was their fifth match without a victory and now they can only hope to successfully defend the Scottish Cup.

Vladimir Romanov's reign is teetering on the verge of collapse, with players openly criticising the owner's interference in team affairs.

Hearts' managerial mystery becomes murkier by the minute. Last night reporters were briefed that Valdas Ivanauskas, off work for three weeks with an unspecified ailment, has been told by his doctor in Lithuania that he is not well enough to resume work and that no date has been set for his return.
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Eduard Malofeev continues, nominally at least, to be responsible for tactics and team selection and once again holding midfielder Julien Brellier was deemed unworthy even of a place on the bench while full-back Robbie Neilson was pushed into the middle of the park.

However, Steven Pressley and Christophe Berra blocked netbound shots from Chris Killen and Ivan Sproule respectively as Hearts refused to bow the knee.

Craig Gordon was forced to turn behind Killen's shot from the edge of the penalty area but the goal was merely delayed by seconds. The resulting corner, curled in by Merouane Zemmama, found its way to Jones and the defender lashed the ball into the roof of the net from eight yards.

Jones, with a glancing header from another Zemmama corner, was inches away from increasing his side's lead in the 53rd minute but the second goal their dominance merited refused to come.

Malofeev made substitutions but to such little effect it was akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

The gaffe-prone Zbigniew Malkowski, whose injury-time error gifted Hearts a point in the recent SPL derby, was never put under pressure and did not have a save to make.

Gordon, by contrast, endured an anxious evening as Sproule terrorised his defenders with his pace, only to let them off the hook with a poor final delivery.

Match details

Hibernian (4-4-2): Malkowski; Whittaker, Jones, Martis, Murphy; Brown, Thomson, Stewart (Beuzelin 13), Zemmama (Benjelloun 91); Sproule (Fletcher 72), Killen.
Subs: McNeil (gk), Hogg.
Booked: Thomson.
Hearts (4-5-1): Gordon; Tall, Pressley, Berra, Goncalves; Neilson (Barasa 54), Zaliukas (Makela 82), Aguiar, Hartley, Michelins (Mole 64); Velicka. Subs: Banks (gk), Fyssas.
Booked: Zaliukas, Mikoliunas, Tall.
Referee: C Murray.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk