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Hearts 1 Hibs 0Jan 2 2011 Gordon Waddell, Sunday Mail FIREWORKS at the castle on Friday night. A single sparkler at Tynecastle on Saturday. But it was all Hearts needed to bring in 2011 with a bang. The Jambos put the boot into their first foot with a fourth straight derby defeat of Hibs, Kevin Kyle's late winner a deserved reward for the only team trying to win a turgid game. It says it all about a Hibees side now languishing 23 points behind their rivals that the height of their ambitions in the first Ne'erday derby for 13 years was simply damage limitation. Still, against a Hearts outfit with 25 points out of the past 27 and three points off the top of the SPL, better teams than them will come here and toil. And Hibs were lucky they didn't have to play 90 per cent of the game with 10 men after a scandalous Ian Murray challenge knocked Ian Black out cold. But with two wins in 11, and their annual Scottish Cup tightrope looming next week, the one piece of solace Colin Calderwood can take is that he got a gutsy 100 per cent from his men. Well, that and the major pre-match boost he was given with the news Sol Bamba had passed his medical at Leicester and was missing from his defence. However, after a five-game winless streak Bamba clearly wasn't the only worry for gaffer Calderwood. And he made five changes from the side which salvaged a last-minute point from Dundee United in midweek. It has been a long time since Hibs started a derby 20 points behind their rivals before the season was even half done. And clearly the message from them in the opening exchanges was "never mind the class, feel the commitment". Three yellows in the opening 22 minutes for the Hibees included a shocking neck-high lead with the elbow by Murray which laid out Black for a full two minutes. It was a stonewall red and how Calum Murray saw it any other way is a mystery. That was more a measure of the game than the scruffiness of the play, though. The vast majority of any football on show was coming from the home side - and the promptings of fit-again Rudi Skacel. His ball from the left in 13 minutes was flicked on by Kyle, begging for a Calum Elliot finish at the back post. But it eluded his toe and the chance was lost. Around the half-hour mark the Czech playmaker tried to make more happen, swivelling and smashing a 30-yard volley wide. Skacel then teed up a great chance for Kyle who cracked a shot over. And on the stroke of the break he forced a good stop from Mark Brown with a cut-inside 20-yarder. The Jambos' other outlets were being kept well in check though, with livewire David Templeton trapped in his pen by Steven Thicot. A hit-and-hope game was failing Hibs though, with Lithuanian Valdas Trakys cutting a lonely figure up top at times. Jamie MacDonald was only tested once in the first 45 minutes as a fine turn and shot from 20 yards by Darryl Duffy - who was finally making his first Hibs start - forced the stand-in keeper into a scrambled low save. Calderwood's side were powerless to turn the tide after the break, sitting in and soaking up when they could, riding their luck when they couldn't. Hibs keeper Brown bundled an Elliot effort past for a corner before the excellent Thicot cleared off the line from a Marius Zaliukas header. Skacel then curled in a free-kick from 25 yards and Brown brilliantly tipped his effort on to the bar. Hibs were holding firm and defending with bravery but they had so little to talk about going forward. Swapping Colin Nish for the anonymous Trakys made a difference though. The big striker's flick almost played in Francis Dickoh at the back post but Hearts managed to escape. And with 12 minutes left Nish really should have delivered, a magnificent crossfield switch from Derek Riordan getting him in behind only for the striker to prod his finish wide. Eventually Hibs got exactly what they deserved though. The Hearts winner could have come earlier had sub Gary Glen not passed up a great chance at the back post from Arvydas Novikovas' superb cross. Little Lithuanian Novikovas didn't settle for a point - and a brilliant piece of work with just four minutes remaining set up the winner. Thicot and Dickoh - both impeccable until then - and Murray made it easy for the wide man, bungling a challenge any one of the three should have made to set Novikovas clear on the left. The cross was quality though, picking out Kyle at the back post. His header maybe could have been saved but was turned in to send Tynie into raptures. Still, the drama wasn't quite done and Hibs had one last look at salvation, Riordan's drive into the box sparking a massive penalty shout as it hit Ismael Bouzid's hands in a pretty unnatural position. But if that was the thread they were clinging to, it wasn't enough.  Taken from the Daily Record |
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