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| <-Page | <-Team | Sat 01 Jan 2011 Hearts 1 Hibernian 0 | Team-> | Page-> |
| <-Srce | <-Type | Scotsman ------ Report | Type-> | Srce-> |
| Jim Jefferies 2nd | <-auth | Moira Gordon | auth-> | Calum Murray |
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| 6 | of 012 | Kevin Kyle 86 | L SPL | H |
Hearts' Kevin Kyle critical of Ian Murray's challenge on Ian BlackPublished Date: 02 January 2011 By Moira Gordon AN ANGRY Kevin Kyle accused Ian Murray of letting the whole significance of the Edinburgh derby cloud his judgment after his challenge on Ian Black left the Hearts midfielder out cold. Black eventually got back to his feet and played a stormer as the home side went on to record their fourth straight derby win and extend their unbeaten run in the key fixture to six. Derbies aren't usually complete without the blood and thunder and this one duly delivered. There were only eight minutes on the clock when the Hibs captain caught Black with a forearm smash as they went up for a header. It left the Hearts midfielder requiring several minutes of treatment and his team-mates irate. "It was reckless," said Kyle, who netted the winner in the 86th minute. "Ian Black won the ball. Ian Murray gets too caught up in his own bloody hype with Hibs and stuff. I know he supports Hibs and he loves the Hibs supporters and it is a derby and it is always going to be fierce but he jumped up, Blacky won the ball, and he went through him with the elbows and knocked him clean out. He was maybe just over enthusiastic because of the situation of the game. "That is Ian Murray for you. What you see is what you get. It will not worry us. And it certainly didn't worry Blacky." Murray said: "It was one of those things that happens in games but it probably wasn't the best challenge. Although I have not seen it again to be honest, the ball was there to be won and it's one of those ones that if you don't go in to protect yourself then you're going to get hurt and I wasn't going to come out of that getting hurt. "It happened so quickly and my instinct was to win the ball but, of course, nobody wants to go in there and come out with an injury, likewise I'm sure for Ian Black, so first and foremost I went in to win the ball and secondly to look after myself." As Black slammed to the ground the Hearts management team and support were furious, while the players surrounded the referee, but Murray never feared being sent off. "I think the referee handled it pretty well. It was the first five-ten minutes of the game and when I went over I could hear him speaking in his earpiece and thought then he was fairly happy with a yellow card but then there were some Hearts boys coming over and they were trying to fuel the fire a little bit, but probably a yellow card was about right." It was a fortunate break, although he admitted that the fact he was on a booking stopped him making a challenge in the passage of play that led to Hearts winner. "I said that if I hadn't been booked, that would have been a free-kick or I would have won the ball but I was treading on thin ice." The decisive goal had been a while in coming, but such is the confidence in the Hearts ranks these days that Kyle insisted there had been no panic. "We have got this wee bit about us just now that we keep going right to the death and the gaffer making the substitution at the time he did was the wee spark we needed because we were kind of running out of ideas. "It was just a matter of could we get the ball in the back of the net? We kept plugging away and believing that the goal would definitely come. The ball has come in and it is a difficult chance. When I saw the ball hit the back of the net, I was absolutely over the moon." His tenth goal of the season, it gave Hearts all three points and leaves them just three off the top of the league. "I'll watch the [Old Firm] game and hope it is a 5-5, or a 6-6. We just want to keep the run going, it is nice for us to win the derby and keep the fans happy. We are not saying we are going to challenge anybody but if you keep going you never know what's going to happen."  Taken from the Scotsman |
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