Hearts Take Honours In Edinburgh Derby

Jan 21 2008 By David McCarthy

ANDRIUS VELICKA is the man who got Darren Barr sent off for nothing last season.

Saulius Mikoliunas dived to win a totally unwarranted penalty for Lithuania that might just have knocked Scotland out of the European Championship this term.

Both are irrefutable facts and two reasons why Hearts are now reaping what their players have sown.

This team don't get penalty kicks when they deserve them. Not any more. Not when their Lithuanian contingent is involved. This team don't get fouls outside the box when they have been felled either but they do get bookings for diving even when they haven't.

Now some might say that serves them right but it doesn't. Two wrongs, three wrongs, four wrongs don't make a right and at the moment Hearts are getting a raw deal.

On Saturday, referee Kenny Clark refused to give Velicka a penalty in the 21st minute when for all the world it looked like Chris Hogg had tripped him.

Had it been awarded and converted, Hearts would have scored their second goal in 60 seconds and would probably have won this Edinburgh derby a good deal more comfortably.

Clark isn't a bent referee - anything but. And despite what Hearts fans think there are no corrupt officials operating in our game. Flawed? Certainly. But they don't cheat.

However, in the split second the whistler had to make his decision on Saturday, did Velicka's "previous" flash through his mind? Maybe - and if so the player didn't get the benefit of the doubt and worse than that, he was booked for simulation.

He didn't deserve that fate and it is happening too often with Hearts players for it to be a coincidence. Mikoliunas was fouled on a few occasions and got next to nothing as well, just as he had against Kilmarnock a couple of weeks ago.

In the end, the failure to award the penalty didn't affect the outcome of the match but the booking collected by Velicka will edge him closer to a suspension that could affect Hearts later in the season.

And they would miss their striker because he has developed into as lethal a penalty box predator as there is to be found in this country.

A minute before the penalty incident, Velicka threw himself at a Christophe Berra knockdown from Andy Driver's corner to head the ball goalwards from six yards.

The Eastern European attacker reacted far quicker than any of the Hibs players to notch his 12th goal of the season and his third in three games. His sharpness contrasted starkly with that of the Hibs defence but their sloppiness merely mirrored the way they played in the entire first half.

Velicka was helped by Yves Ma-Kalambay juggling the ball like a man with no hands. He allowed it through them to hit his chest then grappled with thin air as the ball bounced up off him and over the line.

The Belgian earlier made a sensational save to twist in mid-air and beat away a Ruben Palazuelos shot that had taken a wicked deflection off Ian Murray. But keepers are remembered more for mistakes than great stops and his was a Ma-Kalamity, even if Mixu Paatelainen tried to exonerate him.

The new Hibs boss rightly pointed out the keeper wasn't helped by the defenders in front of him but he should still have saved the Lithuanian's effort.

Paatelainen's face wore a frown most of the afternoon and little wonder. His team were second best by some distance, even if they did improve after the break when Steven Fletcher replaced Abdessalam Benjelloun, who had looked completely uninterested.

In fact, Hibs could have sneaked a draw had Clark awarded a penalty when the otherwise excellent Christos Karapidis wrapped himself round Hogg as he tried to power home a header. It looked like a spot-kick, so at least the referee was even-handed when calling penalty shouts wrong.

Hibs didn't deserve anything, though. Hearts were more aggressive, played with more purpose and had the more creative players, although this was probably the poorest Edinburgh derby for a long time in terms of quality.

Do you think their fans or Stevie Frail will be worried about that? This was only their second win in 13 games but there were further signs the caretaker manager is getting it right at Tynecastle.

Frail has taken the many strands that made up the massive Hearts playing pool and bound them together in a short space of time.

Vladimir Romanov will probably look elsewhere for a permanent manager but Frail is making a convincing argument for being allowed to get on with it.

His central defensive partnership of Karapidis and skipper Berra is developing into the solid unit that might not yet be Pressley-Webster but if given time could be.

Berra was terrific and is looking more like a Hearts captain by the day but this battle was won in midfield where the Jambos outfought and out-thought their opponents.

If Guillame Beuzelin has a bad day, Hibs struggle and the Frenchman had no influence on proceedings. Instead Palazuelos, Eggert Jonsson and Michael Stewart - who played most of the match despite being sick in the warm-up - took the battle to Hibs and got their rewards.

Paatelainen will have learned more from this defeat than the victory that greeted his arrival at Easter Road last week. He'll know his side lacked a cutting edge and Hibs looked like a team that has lost one good player too many.

That said, the return of Murray will help. He played well at left-back and can play in a variety of roles. But if Hibs are to make the top six, they need strengthening before the transfer window shuts.

Hearts look more capable of climbing the table, even if they trail their city rivals at the moment. And their cause will be helped if they start getting penalties they are due.

Man of the match: Christophe Berra (Hearts).

Taken from the Daily Record