Hibernian 1 Hearts 3

From BILL LECKIE at Easter Road

Published: 02 Jan 2012

HIBS were hopeless.

Hearts weren't hellish much better at times.

But on days like these, sometimes being slightly less bad than the other team is enough.

Let's be blunt here. If you're worse than the gang Pat Fenlon has inherited, it's time to have a right good look at yourself.

Here they were, at home in a Ne'erday derby, with a new gaffer in place and the fans baying for a fresh start. Yet the only thing the visiting keeper has to do is pick the ball out of the net after an own goal.

That's one point in five games since the Irishman took over. There's not a sign of them getting any better than they were under Colin Calderwood.

Ryan McGowan's header, Andy Webster's low drive and sub Rudi Skacel's thunderous half-volley sent the Jambos hordes home happy – and it could have been more had Graham Stack not saved Ian Black's first half penalty, tipped over from the same player after the break and had Andrew Driver buried one when clean through.

No wonder those away fans in a 15,013 crowd were re-writing the old KC And The Sunshine Band song Baby Give It Up as Hibs Are Going Down. No wonder only the hardiest of home diehards were still around at time up to show any kind of defiance.

These are miserable times in Leith. No sunshine, just dark clouds and an ill wind blowing right across a famous old ground.

How Fenlon could do with a few cupfuls of the fighting spirit his club's greatest rivals are showing right now. They've racked up three wins and a draw since the dressing room threatened to implode over unpaid wages.

The way they linked arms to take a bow once the job was done spoke volumes for their spirit.

They'd always looked that little bit more likely to win, right from the early minutes when Hibs nerves showed themselves in some wild tackling.

Inside the opening 12, Lewis Stevenson was yellow-carded for catching Scott Robinson, then Paul Hanlon followed for cementing David Templeton.

Almost immediatrely, Templeton skinned Hanlon and fired against the base of the left-hand post, before Stephen Elliott set up Mehdi Taouil, who fired across Stack but sent the shot wide of the far post.

As the ball went back upfield, Taouil stayed down — and that meant an appearance for Andrew Driver, the winger who only a week ago handed in a transfer request and vowed he'd never play for Paulo Sergio again.

He's been as good as his word. He was far from alone in under-performing, as a ridiculous bit of play on the half-hour proved.

As Ivan Sproule lined up a corner, bodies piled into the box and fans stood up all around, anticipating what was to come. Sproule shaped to cross, then tapped short to Leigh Griffiths.

Who tried a Cruyff turn and ran it out for a goal kick.

The Hearts fans celebrated the blunder like a goal. And just before the break, they should have had one of those as well thanks to a moment of typically shambolic Hibees defending. Danny Galbraith cut out a crossfield ball and knocked it back to left back Callum Booth, who could have done the easy thing and returned it to his mate.

Instead he turned and played a blind passback that forced Stack to rush out and trip Elliott.

Only the fact Ian Murray had got back on to the line spared the keeper from a red card.

He made the most of his let-off by diving low to his right and finger-tipping Black's spot kick round the post.

On 56 minutes, he defied the same man again from 30 yards.

But Black – wearing a t-shirt under his jersey reading I'll Paint This Place Maroon — wasn't to be denied. His corner, was right on to the head of Webster and this time Stack could only push the ball goalwards, leaving left back McGowan to stoop and nod over the line.

The home side thought Elliott, parked right in the keeper's eyeline, was offside. But it's still no excuse for defending that badly.

Jambos fans piled down to celebrate with their heroes. One charged on to the pitch and was rugby-tackled by a steward.

Hibs looked shattered. Yet within a minute, they were level.

Down the right went Sproule, pulling the ball all the way across the box for Galbraith to hammer back into the box – right on to the toe of the luckless Marius Zaliukas, who slashed it behind Kello.

For 58 minutes, the Slovakian had barely needed his gloves. No wonder he looked bemused to be picking the ball out of the net.

At last, we had a game. And no game between these two is complete without a big of handbags — so step forward Sproule to upend McGowan and then to fall to the ground like he'd been shot as the Aussie got back off the deck.

The home fans screamed for a red card. But to me, it looked more like McGowan had simply bumped into the Irishman as he hauled himself off the deck.

It merely subbed salt in the wounds that, with eight minutes left, it was McGowan's throw-in that led to Hearts retaking the lead.

Webster got his head to the first ball. Sutton picked up the scraps and shielded it back into the defender's path — and no striker could have produced a better finish into the corner.

It should have been all over — but it soon was as sub John Sutton played in Skacel for a drive that gave Stack not an earthly.

Within seconds, three sides of Easter Road were all but empty.

The exodus said it all.