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| <-Page | <-Team | Sun 07 Nov 2010 Hibernian 0 Hearts 2 | Team-> | Page-> |
| <-Srce | <-Type | Scotsman ------ Report | Type-> | Srce-> |
| Jim Jefferies 2nd | <-auth | Stuart Bathgate | auth-> | William Collum |
| ----- | Derek George Riordan | |||
| 5 | of 009 | David Templeton 19 ;Stephen Elliott 67 | L SPL | A |
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Moments of brilliance earn Hearts victory By STUART BATHGATE at EASTER ROAD Hibernian 0 Hearts 2 Templeton 19, Elliott 67 INDIVIDUAL brilliance gave Hearts the edge in the first Edinburgh derby of the season. Collective superiority ensured they maintained it against a desperately poor Hibernian side who have now lost three games out of three under Colin Calderwood. The brilliance came from David Templeton, who beat five men on the way to scoring what will surely remain one of the finest goals of the season. It was the sort of moment of individual skill which can often make the difference in a game, but on this occasion there was a far greater disparity between the teams. Coming off a lacklustre home defeat by Kilmarnock a week earlier, Hearts were certainly hungrier, as Jim Jefferies said after yesterday's match. But they were also better organised, and had greater self-belief, than opponents who are still ahead of St Mirren at the bottom of the league only on goal difference. The goalkeepers were on a par - Marian Kello had little to do, and Mark Brown was not to blame for the two goals he lost - but otherwise Hibs conceded to their visitors from one end of the pitch to the other. For a team containing such talented individuals as Liam Miller and Derek Riordan, the home side played precious little football. It is a worrying predicament for Calderwood, made all the more troubling by the delinquent behaviour of Riordan, whom he had made captain in a bid to get the player to show more leadership. The striker's late dismissal for a gratuitous lunge at Rudi Skacel displayed only the kind of leadership appropriate to a street gang, and ensures he will miss Wednesday's trip to Ibrox. Hearts, who are back in fourth place as a result of this win, have a difficult next match themselves on the same night, being at home to Celtic. But at least Jefferies's problems now are who to leave out of his side, whereas for Calderwood the question is who on earth he can bring in to make a difference. With Colin Nish a doubt and Darryl Duffy still out, the Hibs manager's principal problem is up front. His only other option in place of Riordan is Valdas Trakys, who came on at the start of the second half with his team a goal down and did next to nothing. Having said that, Trakys might have had more joy had he been deployed alongside Riordan. Instead, the latter dropped back to midfield in place of the substituted John Rankin, leaving Trakys as a lone target man. Sticking to a 4-5-1 formation while a goal down at home would test the abilities of more gifted outfits than Hibs, and it certainly did little to improve their fortunes. True, their brightest spell of the game came immediately after Trakys's introduction, but it was shortlived and was sparked by a general increase in effort rather than anything the Lithuanian did. Hearts, by contrast, lined up in something akin to a conventional 4-3-3, with winger Templeton being almost as advanced as strikers Stephen Elliott and Kevin Kyle. With Rudi Skacel playing centrally rather than out wide, that left Jefferies's team looking a little lopsided at first, but it soon became clear that the manager had called it correctly, and that the only imbalance which counted was between the two teams. After a tentative start from both sides, it was Templeton who made that imbalance tell with a strike of the highest quality. Collecting a header from Ruben Palazuelos just inside the Hibs half, the winger shrugged off Danny Galbraith then cut inside, skipping clear of Miller and Michael Hart. Heading into the box, he evaded Sol Bamba and Paul Hanlon, then sent a low right-foot shot just inside the left post. The restart was held up for a couple of minutes after flares were thrown on to the pitch behind Kello's goal, and the time that allowed for the excitement to ebb was reflected in the rest of the first half. Ten minutes on from the goal, Edwin de Graaf picked up the first yellow card of the game for bringing Templeton down in midfield - which might just have been the Dutchman's way of telling several of his team-mates what they should have done in the lead-up to the Hearts man's strike. After the first half faded out, Hibs increased their tempo at the start of the second, but it hardly amounted to a sustained resurgence. When Kello gathered a Riordan free-kick after 53 minutes it was the first direct effort he had had to save - and would remain the only one of note until a Trakys shot in stoppage time which was also struck straight at him. The introduction of David Wotherspoon, who had missed Hibs' defeat by Dundee United because of injury, promised to bring greater nous to Hibs' offensive forays, but within a minute of his replacing Galbraith the home team found themselves two down. A free-kick from Ismael Bouzid was headed on by Kyle, Templeton nicked in ahead of Hart to touch it on, and Elliott was in the right place to score with a first-time shot on his first start for the visitors. Hearts had at least as much pressure as Hibs in what remained of the contest, and things could have become worse for the home side but for an excellent defensive header from Ian Murray which dealt with a dangerous-looking free-kick from Skacel. All that remained after that was for Riordan to compound his club's misery with his act of self-indulgence. Objects were thrown at Skacel after the red card was shown to Riordan, as they had been earlier at Kyle. The discontent is growing at Easter Road, but across the city an optimistic mood is mounting as Hearts' aim of claiming a European place becomes steadily more credible. Hibernian: Brown, Hart, Bamba, Hanlon, Grounds, Galbraith (Wotherspoon 66), De Graaf, Miller, Rankin (Trakys 46), Stevenson (Murray 84), Riordan. Subs not used: Smith, Hogg, Dickoh, McBride. Hearts: Kello, Jonsson, Bouzid, Zaliukas, Palazuelos, Mrowiec, Black, Skacel, S Elliott (C Elliot 86), Kyle, Templeton (Stevenson 79). Subs not used: MacDonald, Suso, Jason Thomson, Glen, Craig Thomson. MAN OF THE MATCH David Templeton (Hearts) The winger scored his team's first goal out of nothing with a spectacular solo move, provided the assist for the second, and was a real threat throughout the game. Referee: W Collum Attendance: 17,767  Taken from the Scotsman |
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| <-Page | <-Team | Sun 07 Nov 2010 Hibernian 0 Hearts 2 | Team-> | Page-> |
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