Hibernian 1-1 Hearts

Hibs and Hearts shared the spoils in a pulsating Edinburgh derby at Easter Road with both sides squandering a host of chances to win the match.

The home side opened the scoring after only 90 seconds when Steven Fletcher finished off a neat move involving Derek Riordan and Colin Nish.

Bruno Aguiar's precise free-kick drew Hearts level just before half-time.

Hearts substitute keeper Janos Balogh denied Riordan a certain winning goal in the dying minutes.

Hibs took the lead in sensational style after their front three opened up the Hearts defence within the first two minutes.

Nish dispossessed Christos Karipidis before running on to Riordan's cheeky back heel and squaring for Fletcher to force home from close range.

Hearts came close to an instant reply when Christophe Berra headed against the bar from Laryea Kingston's lobbed cross.

The action was coming thick and fast and Riordan volleyed into the side net after David van Zanten's cross found him unmarked at the back post.

Kingston missed a great chance in the 11th minute when the ball fell perfectly for him on the right side of the box after the ungainly Yves Ma-Kalambay had rushed out to slide clear from Christian Nade.

But the Ghanian ballooned the ball high and wide with the empty net gaping.

Riordan had a strong shout for a penalty when he was tripped by Eggert Jonsson just inside the box after a poor clearance from Hearts keeper Marian Kello but referee Eddie Smith waved play on.

Then Aguiar sliced a half chance well over from 16 yards as Hearts began to get a grip of the game.

Nish clumsily barged over Lee Wallace as the left-back ran on to Kingston's ball to hand Hearts a direct free-kick on the edge of the box.

And Aguiar made it count as he curled it into the bottom corner past the stranded Ma-Kalambay .

Shiels mis-hit from 15 yards as he and Nish got in each other's way following Fletcher's clever lay-off as Hibs looked to regain their lead before the break.

The increasingly shaky looking Kello let a passback run under his foot before finally sweeping the ball away. The hapless keeper was then replaced at half-time with Balogh.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with Hibs starting brightly and Hearts on the back foot.

Fletcher went close to restoring Hibs lead on the hour mark with a great snap-shot that billowed Balogh's side-netting.

Five minutes later the quicksilver Andrew Driver embarked on a scintillating 40-yard run which took him as far as the Hibs penalty box.

Lewis Stevenson's desperate block denied the Hearts winger a sensational solo goal.

Balogh pulled off a wonderful save when he pawed away Riordan's left-foot piledriver on 76 minutes.

Fletcher was almost the toast of the capital with six minutes to go but he smashed his left-foot volley wide from a great position.

Balogh then saved brilliantly at the feet of Riordan when the Hibs striker pounced on Marius Zaliukas's slack pass-back to streak through on goal.

Nade skied over from 10 yards in injury-time from Driver's cutback as the game ended as thrillingly as it had begun.

Hibernian manager Mixu Paatelainen:
"In my opinion we should have had a penalty but sometimes you get them sometimes you don't.

"Unfortunately we didn't get it.

"He (Derek Riordan) said it was a clear foul and that's the way I saw it. But there is no point dwelling on it, the referee thought otherwise.

"If we had scored that penalty to make it 2-0, possibly the match would have been all over but it wasn't to be.

"I think there should be video evidence but that's a long discussion. Let's not go into that one."

"I wanted to win this game. I'm slightly disappointed because we were at home and I felt we had the upper hand and created more chances and were more positive."

Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo:
"At this moment I would like to ask the referee about his secret, why he didn't give the goal.

"From the bench, maybe I saw it a little bit differently. For me, it was not a foul.

"But, maybe when I see it on TV, I will have another opinion.

"I must also compliment the referee. He didn't make many mistakes and he had a good game.

"It's not easy to referee a derby between Hearts and Hibs and that (Nade's goal) is the only thing I would like to see on TV."

Hibernian: Ma-Kalambay, van Zanten, Bamba, Jones, Stevenson, Shiels, Thicot (Yantorno 80), Murray, Nish, Fletcher, Riordan. Subs Not Used: McNeil, Keenan, Rankin, Chisholm, Pinau, Cropley.

Booked: Jones, Thicot, Murray.

Goals: Fletcher 2.

Hearts: Kello (Balogh 46), Jonsson, Zaliukas, Berra, Lee Wallace, Aguiar, Stewart, Karipidis, Driver, Kingston (Thomson 90), Nade (Mole 90). Subs Not Used: Palazuelos, Mikoliunas, Makela, Ksanavicius.

Booked: Berra, Aguiar.

Goals: Aguiar 42.

Att: 17,223

Ref: C Thomson (Scotland).

Taken from the BBC