Paatelainen frustrated as Gorgie men end ten-game wait for win

HEARTS 1
Velicka (19)

HIBERNIAN 0

THE invariably frenetic atmosphere of the Edinburgh derby has made it a particularly difficult fixture to forecast over the past few seasons. In contrast to Hearts' long period of domination which saw them rack up 22 games without defeat, recent years have seen a more even division of the spoils.

In fact, where once it was about the compilation of undefeated runs, the derby is now the setting for the ending of long streaks of results. In 2005, for instance, Hibernian abruptly terminated Hearts' unbeaten start to the league season with a 2-0 win at Easter Road. On Saturday, it was an unwanted run which was at last halted, as Hearts recorded a victory for the first time in 11 games.

Yet, while at times it seems there is some truth in the old cliche about form going out of the window in such games, this 1-0 victory which lifted Hearts off second-bottom spot was in fact a reflection of the clubs' respective standards at present. In three of their previous four matches, Hearts played significantly better, and with greater unity, than they had been doing. Hibs, on the other hand, have looked flat for the past month or more, with the Scottish Cup win over Inverness Caley Thistle a week before this game now looking more like a positive blip than the start of something special under Mixu Paatelainen.

Certainly, whatever inspiring effect the Finn may have had in his first game as manager was nowhere in evidence here. His team played some neat passing football in the build-up, but lacked the cutting edge they had shown in beating Caley Thistle 3-0, and rarely troubled Steve Banks in the Hearts goal.

By contrast, Hearts took the game to their rivals and deservedly went ahead midway through the first half. They sat back too much in the second period as an understandable nervousness crept into their play, and at times had to defend desperately, but also remained dangerous on the break, with Andrius Velicka always looking threatening. It was Velicka who got the only goal of the game, though Yves Makalambay, the Hibs goalkeeper, will be remembered as the biggest contributor to it. The incident arose from a corner awarded to Hearts after a shot from Eggert Jonsson was deflected past the post. The corner floated towards the back post, where Christophe Berra headed back in towards goal, possibly assisted by a touch off the head of the Hibs defender Chris Hogg.

Velicka was standing unmarked when the ball reached him six yards or so out, and his header was fumbled into the net by Makalambay. Replays suggested that the goalkeeper lost his footing slightly as he tried to adjust his positioning to save from Velicka, but even allowing for difficult underfoot conditions it was a poor effort.

Makalambay is far from being the only Hibs goalkeeper to have his praises sung by the Hearts support. Substitute Andy McNeil had to put up with the applause of the home fans when warming up, while Simon Brown and Zibi Malkowski would receive a red-carpet welcome if they return to Tynecastle, thanks to their hapless performances against Hearts.

Still, without in any way detracting from his error, it should be added that it would be unfair to single it out as the only significant moment of the game. Indeed, without two or three acrobatic saves from their goalkeeper, Hibs could well have gone in at half-time two or three goals down and effectively out of the game. Makalambay could also have had a penalty to contend with after Velicka went down while vying for possession with Hogg, but instead the referee yellow-carded the goalscorer for simulation.

Ruben Palazuelos and Jonsson were the main players for Hearts in the first half, with the Spaniard in particular performing with an impressive mixture of skill and determination.

Hearts would have had even more of a stranglehold in midfield had Michael Stewart been on top of his game, but the former Scotland international was struggling because of a virus. He vomited during the warm-up and again at least once during the match, and did well to last 20 minutes of the second half before giving way to Lee Wallace. Hibs had made a change at the start of the half, with Steven Fletcher coming on for his first game back after injury.

But, while Fletcher looked more purposeful than the man he replaced, Abdessalam Benjelloun, and proved a useful target man, he found it hard to link up with runners coming from midfield.

Filipe Morais had caused Hearts some problems in the first half, getting past Jose Goncalves with embarrassing ease at times, but the quality of his final ball was too often substandard.

In other words, Hibs made few clear-cut chances, with Dean Shiels, a hat-trick hero against Inverness, being next to anonymous here.

The second half as a whole was a scrappy affair, and showed why both teams currently find themselves in the wrong half of the table. After so long without a win, though, Hearts were rightly more concerned with the result than the performance.

Man of the match: Ruben Palazuelos (Hearts)

Strong on the ball and adroit at making space for himself, Palazuelos was the biggest single reason for Hearts' superiority in the first half and also played a significant part in snuffing out Hibs' fightback after the break.

Referee: K Clark
Attendance: 17,131

Taken from the Scotsman