Hibernian 1 Hearts 3

By Roddy Forsyth, Easter Road

3:12PM GMT 02 Jan 2012

They may never be sure when – or if – they are going to be paid, but Hearts proved splendid value for their uncertain money to win the second Edinburgh derby of the season at Easter Road in remarkable circumstances.

They missed a penalty kick and conceded an own goal yet still contrived to emerge with a two-goal advantage over their city rivals.

Ian Black, never a reclusive figure, was directly involved in three of the five crucial moments and, although he did not figure on the scoresheet, was the most influential player on view.

It was Black who saw his penalty effort saved by Graham Stack just before the interval but he was the man whose corner kick deliveries set up Hearts’ first two goals.

Pat Fenlon, meanwhile, still awaits his first win after five games since he succeeded Colin Calderwood as Hibs manager in November and, indeed, the Easter Road side have taken only a single point from a possible 15 in that period.

The most worrying feature of this development is that the club are in the same situation at the same stage of the season as was the case when Hibs were relegated in 1997-98.

“We’ve been in this position for a while – confidence is low and it’s up to me to try to change that,” said Fenlon.

On the way into Easter Road, this correspondent stopped to exchange New Year greetings with a Hibs employee whose expressed wish for 2012 was “for us to stay up and Hearts to survive”.

Some Hibbies might harbour reservations about the second sentiment but the fact is that Edinburgh’s venerable clubs face a degree of uncertainty that is notable even in a year of trembling foundations all around.

Hearts at least approached the contest having found togetherness in adversity and were unbeaten in three games without conceding a goal.

Hibs, by contrast, did not have the history of these encounters in their favour, with their last win over Hearts as far back as May 2009.

The overall trends hardly invited the notion of a high-scoring encounter, with Hibs having the lowest goalscoring tally of any SPL side and Hearts unable to do better than four goals on their travels this season.

Fenlon chose to make four changes, one of which saw Garry O’Connor dropped to the bench as the manager opted for pace rather than bulk with Leigh Griffiths flanked by Ivan Sproule and Danny Galbraith.

Fenlon also deployed two sitting players – Victor Palsson and Lewis Stevenson – while Hearts used only Adrian Mrowiec in the same role.

This placed the onus on Martin Scott to drop deeper to help his colleagues when Hearts had the ball and his failure to accomplish as much for most of the first half contributed to Hibs’ inability to do anything other than play quickly back to front, to little effect.

Hearts very nearly capitalised on their territorial advantage on the quarter-hour mark when David Templeton cut inside right-back Paul Hanlon and struck a low drive off Stack’s far post.

At left-back, meanwhile, Callum Booth invited even greater damage two minutes before the break when he played a woeful pass back into the path of Stephen Elliott, who was tumbled by Stack.

The goalkeeper, though, read Black’s intent to strike his effort low and to his right and – having stepped a yard off his line to narrow the angle – dived to divert the ball past for a corner kick.

It was Hearts’ third penalty miss in five games but another Black delivery from a corner kick seven minutes into the second half broke the deadlock when Andy Webster headed on for Ryan McGowan to nod over the line at the back post, with Hibs complaining that Elliott had been offside and directly in front of Stack, although he did not make contact with the ball.

Scarcely had the Hearts fans got their triumphal choruses in full swing than Hibs drew level when Danny Galbraith’s driven cross caromed off Marius Zaliukas and into his own net.

However, the home side’s persistent weakness at set pieces was again exposed when Hearts won another corner kick and Black’s delivery fell to John Sutton – who had replaced Scott Robinson – and Webster snapped on to the striker’s prompt to drive his shot low through Sean O’Hanlon’s legs and beyond Stack.

Sutton contributed to the coupe de grace in stoppage time when he broke wide on the right and despatched a cross which forced Rudi Skacel to take a touch but which did not prevent his fellow substitute from ramming home to put even more distance between Hearts and their floundering city rivals.

The only tarnish on their triumph was McGowan’s needless head push on Sproule, which was not punished by a card but which will surely attract the attention of the SFA’s compliance officer this morning.

Match details

Hibernian (4-2-3-1): Stack; Hanlon, O’Hanlon, Murray, Booth; Palsson, Stevenson; Sproule, Scott (Doyle 85), Galbraith (O’Connor 85); Griffiths. Subs: Brown (g), Hart, Wotherspoon, Stephens, Towell. Booked: Stevenson, Hanlon, Stack, Palsson.
Hearts (4-1-4-1): Kello; Hammill, Webster, Zaliukas, McGowan; Mrowiec; Taouil (Driver 24), Robinson (Sutton 61), Black, Templeton (Skacel 72); Elliott. Subs: MacDonald (g), Barr, Novikovas, Hamilton. Booked: Webster.
Referee: C Murray.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk