Hibs 1-2 Hearts: Jim Jefferies' side keep season alive as Hibs' fall from grace continues

Published Date: 03 May 2010
ONE team needed a win just to keep their season alive: a draw would have done for the other.

Such situations invariably favour the side which does not need the three points, but on Saturday it was Hearts who remained calm, and hapless Hibernian who played as if a trapdoor were about to open underneath them.

And it was not simply as if Hearts held the upper hand throughout and therefore found it easy not to panic. Far from it. Never mind them having 90 minutes in which to save their season; in effect, they had two.

With 88 minutes on the clock, Jim Jefferies' team had fought back to be on level terms with Hibs, but a draw would have left them six points behind their Edinburgh rivals with two games remaining. Factor in their inferior goal difference and that would have been it: a sixth-place finish and no hope of Europe.

Now, thanks to David Obua's late winner, the Gorgie side are three points behind their rivals. The odds are still against them, but given the gap between the clubs was once 18 points, they have come a very long way.

As for Hibs, their fate is still in their own hands. They will go fourth if they win at Motherwell in midweek, and stay there if they then beat Dundee United on Sunday. In fact, a point in the latter match would be enough even if Motherwell were to win their own final game narrowly.

But John Hughes' team have been in that position for months, and have not yet taken advantage of it. This last home game of the season was a sixth consecutive defeat for them, and continued a far longer run of dismal results which has seen them win only two league matches – against the two bottom clubs – since the start of February.

That run has seen them become increasingly afflicted by self-doubt. Some of their most influential players from early in the season cannot recapture their best form no matter how hard they try; some others already appear to have given up on a season which once promised so much.

The Hearts squad, it should be said, were in a similar position a week earlier when they went down tamely at Motherwell. That defeat could still prove costly, but at least on Saturday they rediscovered the spirit which saw them scrap their way into the top six.

Jefferies is well aware that he does not have a team of world-beaters, and has almost certainly decided that a substantial overhaul of the playing staff is required in the summer. But no matter how modest the talents of most of his players may be, as a collective they are far more than the sum of their parts.

The closing stages of this game provided an illustration of that. Jefferies was rightly praised for making positive substitutions, but with due respect to the two men who came on, Calum Elliot and Suso Santana, they are not normally classed as supersubs. Somehow, though, those two, combined with a change of shape, helped make the difference.

First, with under 20 minutes to play, Elliot harried Paul Hanlon, who should have made a simple clearance. As Graeme Smith came out of his goal in a misguided attempt to deal with the danger, Elliot seemed to prod the ball into the path of Suso, whose first-time shot found the empty net.

By putting on Suso, a winger, for central midfielder Ryan Stevenson, Jefferies effectively switched to a 4-2-4, with the Spaniard on the right flank and David Templeton switching to the left. It was from the latter direction that the winner came, Templeton curling in a cross which Smith and Hanlon failed to deal with, allowing an exultant Obua to score at the back post.

It was a deserved victory, not only because of the adventure shown by Jefferies, but also because Hibs failed to match up to their rivals in almost every department. In midfield, for example, it was only because Laryea Kingston and Ian Black were becoming so dominant in the centre that Jefferies was able to switch to two wingers.

John Rankin held his own against those two, particularly in the first half, but Liam Miller was yet again disappointing, giving possession away far too easily. With minimal supply, Derek Riordan and Anthony Stokes would have been hard pressed to make an impact even when at their best – and they were some way short of that.

Stokes, his club's top scorer, did at least add to his tally when given an unmerited opportunity to do so from the penalty spot, after Marius Zaliukas was harshly ruled to have impeded Rankin. But the Irishman's contribution almost came to an end once he had scored from the spot, in contrast to his opponents, who appeared energised by the apparent injustice of the award.

Hearts, who have home games against United and Celtic to come, probably still have too much to do to get into Europe. But at least they are entering the final week of the league campaign in a hopeful mood, and will play with the freedom which comes from knowing they have nothing to lose. The same can't be said for Hibs, for whom the end of the season can hardly come quickly enough.

Taken from the Scotsman