Bruno Aguiar marks his return for Hearts with classic strike

After such a long time away from the Edinburgh scene, it was anticipated that someone would make a grand return at Easter Road. The smart money may have been on Derek Riordan, but it was Bruno Aguiar who stole the show with a wonderful free kick that ensured the first derby of the season kept both halves of the capital happy.

The little Portuguese midfield player was making a first appearance in a Heart of Midlothian shirt in 18 months after an ankle and knee injury that almost finished his career and he joyfully tossed it to the visiting support after an absorbing contest that ought to have delivered far more goals.

Aguiar’s deadball accuracy three minutes before the interval cancelled out the remarkable opener provided by Steven Fletcher for Hibernian after just 78 seconds. The former Benfica player might have snatched a late winner in a dramatic finale when both teams squandered a flurry of scoring opportunities, but understandable tiredness betrayed him and Aguiar missed an easier finish than the one he converted.

“For 18 months, either in the street or at Tynecastle, people were so good to me, asking me when I would be coming back and saying, ‘The team needs you,’ ” Aguiar said later. “I was so happy for the people at Hearts, who gave me a contract when I did not play for 18 months. It was a long time. I suffered a very bad tackle on my ankle and then twisted my knee.”
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Aguiar ran to the Hearts dugout after his equaliser to celebrate with the club’s physio, Rob Marshall, who helped the midfield player on the long road to rehabilitation. “When I thought I could do no more, he pushed me and told me I could come back. I also had a physio in Newcastle, David Henderson, who helped me. I want to forget the past now and start a new life at this club.”

Either side could have won this typically fraught encounter in the second half, but Hibernian were perhaps the most aggrieved. Not so much for the chance that Riordan failed to take in the last minute, after anticipating a Marius Zaliukas passback, but for a penalty that he was not awarded in the 25th minute when Eggert Jonsson came in from behind and clearly caught the Hibernian striker.

“I thought it was a penalty,” Fletcher said. “If that had happened outside the box, it would have been a free kick. I don’t know why the referee did not give a penalty. If he does, it is a different game.”

Mixu Paatelainen, the Hibernian manger, insisted he was not criticising Eddie Smith, the referee, because he feels officials receive too much criticism. “It was a big decision and sometimes referees get it right and sometimes they get it wrong,” Paatelainen said. “In my opinion, he got it wrong. There is no point in dwelling on it – it just puts referees under the microscope even more but it was a turning point because if we score, it’s 2-0.”

Perhaps just as important to the final outcome was the replacement of Marian Kello, the Hearts goalkeeper, by Csaba Laszlo, the manager, at half-time. The Lithuanian cited a sore head after a clash with Colin Nish and said he did not feel up to the task. Kello was taken to hospital to be treated for concussion but perhaps Hearts dodged a bullet because Kello had been so poor in the first half, and was almost twice mugged by Riordan after failing to deal with backpasses, that his luck would surely have run out.

Instead, Laszlo sent his compatriot Janos Balogh into the fray and the Hungary goalkeeper produced the key moment in the last minute when Riordan pounced on a backpass from Zaliukas and shaped to go round the goalkeeper, only for Balogh to get his hands to the ball.

It was the sort of situation from which Riordan used to profit in derbies before he left Easter Road for Celtic in 2006, but the forward is far from fit, or match-sharp, though he did conjure up one archetypal Riordan moment in the 75th minute when he thrashed an angled shot against the post.

“Derek read the passback very well but maybe should have taken an extra touch to make the goalkeeper come out more,” Paatelainen said of the late chance. “Certainly, the Hearts goalkeeper did very well. I am disappointed we did not win after the start we made.”

Paatelainen’s boldness almost paid off. His decision to keep a three-man attack, when the visitors packed their midfield with five men, was rewarded when Hibernian scored with their first attack and his front trio of Riordan, Fletcher and Nish were all involved.

Riordan held the ball up well outside the box before releasing Nish with a lovely backheel that allowed the latter to unselfishly plant a low cross into the path of Fletcher for the Scotland striker to net his first derby goal.

Easter Road’s decibel level soared but Christophe Berra was unlucky not to restore parity five minues later when he thumped a header against the bar. Hibernian failed to take advantage from their superiority, with Riordan volleying into the side net before the striker was then taken down by Jonsson inside the box but was not awarded a penalty.

Hearts regained control of the midfield and plundered an equaliser. Nish foolishly brought down Lee Wallace on the edge of the box and Aguiar measured a perfect free kick, low around the wall that exposed the poor positioning of Yves Ma-Kalambay, the Hibernian goalkeeper.

“Normally, I would go over the wall but my mind was made up when I saw the goalkeeper in the middle,” Aguiar said. “He’s thinking I will go left, so I went right.”

Christian Nade, Hearts’ overweight frontman, had the ball in the net early in the second half from a corner by Laryea Kingston, which was ruled off – wrongly, according to Laszlo – for a foul on Ma-Kalambay. Parity prevailed and pride remained intact across Edinburgh.

Hibernian (4-3-3): Y Ma-KIalambay 5 D van Zanten 7 R Jones 7 S Bamba 6 L Stevenson 7 S Thicot 6 I Murray 7 D Shiels 5 D Riordan 5 C Nish 5 S Fletcher 7 Substitutes F Yantorono (for Thicot, 79min). Not used A McNeil, J Keenan, J Rankin, R Chisholm, S Pinau, J Cropley.

Hearts (4-5-1): M Kello 4 E Jonsson 6 M Zaliukas 6 C Berra 7 L Wallace 6 L Kingston 6 C Karipidis 7 B Aguiar 8 M Stewart 6 A Driver 8 C Nade 6 Substitutes J Balogh 6 (for Kello, 46min), J Thomson (for Kingston, 90), J Mole (for Nade, 90). Not used R Palazuelos, S Mikoliunas, J Makela, A Ksanavicius.

Referee: C Thomson. Attendance: 17,223

Taken from timesonline.co.uk