Hibs 1-1 Heart of Midlothian

Honours even after the first Edinburgh derby of the new season, as Hearts and Hibs contested a hard-fought draw at easter Road. Andy Driver drew first blood for the visitors when he capitalised on Alan Maybury's 29th-minute mistake, but the visitors' joy was short-lived as Leigh Griffiths drew Hibs level right before half-time.

The packed away end was in a mood to celebrate, but the party atmosphere did not translate to the pitch in an error-strewn opening phase from both sides. It took ten minutes before either goalkeeper was called into action, and even then Jamie Macdonald dropping easily to his right to clutch David Wotherspoon's flicked header.

Darren Barr then saw a shot turned behind by Ben Williams, before debutant Gary Deegan received the game's first caution for scything down the scampering Templeton inside the centre circle. Temps was looking sharp, though, soon firing in a fierce free-kick that was too straight to seriously trouble Williams in the home side's goal.

Hearts continued to press and sneaked in front with half-an-hour gone. A speculative ball forward should have been mopped up by Alan Maybury, but his headed backpass fell short, allowing Andy Driver to nip in and poke past the exposed Williams.

Hibs responded with a raking ball to the back post which was only narrowly missed by the stretching Wotherspoon, before Barr was booked for a late challenge on Maybury. The visitors appeared content with their lead as they stroked the ball around in defence; however, a lapse in concentration allowed Griffiths time and space to rattle a vicious effort off Macdonald's right-hand post five minutes before the break.

That warning went unheeded by the Heats defence, who switched off again just before the interval. Wotherspoon slipped clear of McHattie on the right before feeding the ball in for Griffiths, who scrambled it past Macdonald from 10 yards.

An exciting end to the first-half then, but sadly that level of entertainment wasn't carried over into a second period devoid pf talking points. What action there was came mainly from set pieces, with Ryan McGowan heading wide of the target after Williams missed Templeton's corner. The Australian midfielder repeated the trick right at the end of the game, stooping bravely through a ruck of players to direct his effort narrowly wide.

In between, it was mainly Hibs on the offensive, with McPake twice seeing headers easily saved by Macdonald and Griffiths executing a wonderful turn that left Andy Webster for dead, only to tug a left-foot shot well wide of Macdonald's left-hand post. Griffiths also saw a promising break well snuffed out by the watchful Templeton.

Mr Collum was by far the busiest man on the field, handing out bookings to Webster, Zaliukas, Maybury and Hanlon, as well as tracking of the rash of substitutions that punctuated the closing stages of an ultimately disappointing encounter.

Hibs: Williams; Clancy, Hanlon, McPake, Maybury; Wotherspoon, Deegan, Stevenson (Claros 50), Cairney; Griffiths (Handling 78), Doyle (Caldwell 68). Booked: Deegan, Maybury, Hanlon. Subs not used: Antell, O'Hanlon, Sproule, Stanton.

Hearts: Macdonald; Paterson, Webster, Zaliukas, McHattie; Robinson (Taouil 58), R. McGowan, Barr; Templeton, Sutton, Driver (Novikovas 67). Booked: Barr, Webster, Zaliukas. Subs not used: Ridgers, D. McGowan, Grainger, G. Smith, Carrick.

Referee: Willie Collum

Top man: Callum Paterson

Hearts World