Yves ma calamity

Hearts 1-0 Hibernian
Michael Grant at Tynecastle

AN ENTIRE derby reduced to a playground taunt: at full-time Yves Ma-Kalambay's name was booming around Tynecastle and guess whose fans were singing it. The Edinburgh derby was settled by the most familiar of storylines. Yet again a Hibs goalkeeper served up a mistake which handed a goal and three points to Hearts.

Ma-Kalambay is a likeable, thoughtful and spiritual 21-year-old, but the tall Belgian has a catalogue of costly errors behind him and he added another to the list here.

He ought to have held an Andrius Velicka header from a corner but didn't do much more than fumble and nudge it over his own goal-line.

It was a blow from which a poor Hibs team were unable to recover, their improvement in the second half stopping short of menacing the Hearts goal.
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It meant Ma-Kalamabay underlined his name among those of Zibi Malkowski, Simon Brown, and Andrew McNeil as goalkeepers who have given Hearts fans a right good laugh in the last few seasons.

Afterwards the player gave an assessment of the goal which was kind to himself, claiming his jersey was pulled as the ball was crossed from an Andrew Driver corner before being headed back by Christope Berra off Chris Hogg's head to Velicka.

Maybe so, but it was poor goalkeeping. The save ought to have been a routine one regardless of the fact Velicka was so close to him when the contact was made.

"It was a very close header. I am not upset. It was not a mistake by me. Perhaps I should have come for the corner but my jersey was pulled.

"Let them sing whatever they want, at least they know my name. It's some celebrity for me."

Having to explain away a blunder by his goalkeeper amounted to Mixu Paatelainen's coming of age as a Hibs manager. All his recent predecessors had to do it and yesterday was his turn.

He stood by his man: "It wasn't a goalkeeping error. We lost an important header from the corner and it came from that. It is not the case that I will be pointing the finger at one player."

For the Hibs fans who have had their patience tested by similar mistakes in recent seasons, it was difficult to be quite so sympathetic.

Paatelainen knows his team is weak in some areas and will try to chisel some money out of Rod Petrie's tightly-clenched fist to improve it. Rob Jones and Chris Hogg were solid at the back but the team could have played all day without scoring and, for all their possession in the second half, the threat to Hearts was negligible.

The victory was Hearts' first in 11 matches and the clean sheet their first in the league since September 3.

There has been gradual sense of improvement since Stevie Frail was appointed as caretaker manager at the start of the month although that will be tested when they travel to Motherwell for a difficult Scottish Cup replay on Tuesday night.

"I think we have been building for the last few weeks," said goalkeeper Steve Banks, who had more to do in the post-match press conference than the game itself.

"It was just a matter of getting a win as a confidence-booster."

They had solid performances through the spine of the team - Berra at the back, Ruben Palazuelos in midfield, Velicka up front - although their recent tendency to fade in matches was evident again.

Because they never added to their opening goal - and, like Hibs, rarely threatened - their lead always felt fragile. It would not have done so had they doubled their lead moments after the goal when Velicka burst through again and went down under a challenge by Ian Murray.

A converted penalty at that point and Hibs had a mountain to climb, but referee Kenny Clark was unimpressed and instead booked the forward for diving. It looked a questionable call.

In Murray the Edinburgh derby was reacquainted with one of its great heroes/villains. Murray once took to the field with "7-0" shaved into his hair - a reference to a result known to every supporter in the capital - and on other occasion played with green dye in his hair.

In bringing him back to the club from Norwich on Friday Hibs had an immediate replacement for the departed David Murphy but also a pantomime villain to drop into the derby.

He put in one tackle which went through Robbie Neilson like a dose of salts, sparking a brief chain reaction which brought Paatelainen charging out of his dug-out for the first time but certainly not the last.

It wasn't much of a derby. Moments before kick-off the stadium announcer said "if you're not pumped up for this you should probably check your pulse" but it never lived up to that breathless billing.

Before his day deteriorated Ma-Kalambay had produced a wonderful, reflex save to fling out an arm and block a deflected Palazuelos shot. Hibs' best chance came from a low cross from Filipe Morais which ought to have been converted by Abdessalam Benjelloun but the contact was non-existent.

Hibs looked more purposeful when Steven Fletcher replaced the Moroccan, although after an ankle injury his lack of fitness showed. In addition to Murray there was also a debut for John Rankin after his move from Inverness Caley Thistle.

Paatelainen said Hearts had not been interested in playing football in the second half, but he has more pressing matters on his mind. Hibs have failed to win any of their last nine league matches, and Ma-Kalambay is not the only one being subjected to taunts across Edinburgh.

Hearts substitutes: Wallace for Stewart 64, Mikoliunas for Cesnauskis 69, Nade for Palazuelos 80 Not used: Bjornsson, Thomson, Beniusis, Ksanavicius Booked: Velicka 20, Driver 83, Nade 89 Hibernian substitutes: Fletcher for Benjelloun 46, Rankin for Zemmama 67, Gray for Morais 81 Not used: McNeil, Chisholm, McCormack, Hanlon Booked: Jones 66, Beuzelin 71 Referee: K Clark Att: 17,131

Taken from the Sunday Herald