All square in love and war

THE HEARTS fans who packed their end of Easter Road had not wanted only a football match yesterday, they were after one of those court dramas where the perpetrators make the victim suffer through the whole ordeal again.

They were determined to party like it was May 19 and make the season's first Edinburgh derby feel like an aftershock from the William Hill Scottish Cup final.

This niggly, evenly matched game followed a different script, though. It is now a dozen meetings since Hibernian beat Hearts but they could take something from this one. They were the better side, just, and avoided defeat despite gifting Hearts a goal of a start.

It did not take a genius to detect the clubs' differing fortunes – it was evident from a glance at the stands at kick-off. Hearts' end was rammed with 3800-or-so gloating, jubilant supporters. As soon as enough were in place the first taunt went around the ground – "we only won 5-1" – to set the tone for their day.

The home stands were another story: rows of empty green seats and a general moroseness which lifted only when their side surprised them by coming back from a goal down to deservedly equalise. Easter Road's capacity is 20,000 but only a few more than 9000 Hibs fans turned out. Hibs have too many ordinary players and a dispirited support, two characteristics which made it all the more surprising they responded to last weekend's 3-0 thrashing at Dundee United to bring passion and purpose to this respectable draw.

The dossier Liverpool will have started to compile on Hearts, their imminent Europa League play-off opponents, will not highlight any dangers on the back of this performance. Hearts were generally flat, creating few chances and lacking menace.

David Templeton began well but faded and John Sutton never imposed himself on James McPake and Paul Hanlon as manager John McGlynn would have wished. Hearts were crying out for someone with the impudence and derby temperament of Rudi Skacel, scorer of two of their five at Hampden. Without him they were colourless.

Even so, when it comes to serving up some fresh dollop of embarrassment, Hibs rarely disappoint. Just when they had carved out a reassuring start to the game they messed it up by conceding an awful, needless opening goal.

Ryan McGowan nodded a gentle header into their penalty area and it was Alan Maybury's all the way. Instead of applying a firm header towards goalkeeper Ben Williams or putting it out of play, his forehead barely brushed it, allowing Andy Driver to steal in and poke an easy finish into the net.

Maybury served Hearts for four years and accidentally did them another turn on this, his Hibs debut. It was an awful blunder. Hibs being Hibs, they almost sent themselves to defeat by doing it again two minutes from the end of the match. Tim Clancy's pass back was short and Williams saved him by racing out to clear before Sutton could pounce. Those notable exceptions aside, Hibs were tighter and more organised than they had been at Tannadice or in most of the recent derbies.

Hearts had needed that first-half gift as it was not a day when they appeared capable of creating much for themselves.

It was a scrappy, forgettable match with a bit of needle between the players and some meaty challenges across the midfield. The six bookings were shared and Templeton went unpunished for kicking out at McPake although it was caught by television cameras and may yet earn him a notice of complaint from SFA compliance officer Vincent Lunny. Gary Deegan, Hibs' other debutant, was forceful in midfield but also flirted with a red card after an early yellow.

Hearts did not deal well with good first-half deliveries from Maybury, David Wotherspoon and Leigh Griffiths, all of which might have brought a goal.

Griffiths is reminiscent of Derek Riordan – sometimes dangerous, sometimes anonymous, a niggly figure for rival fans – and Hibs' hopes rested on him. He cracked a rising shot off the post after taking on Hearts down the left and then, just before the interval, scored the goal his team had deserved at the end of a half they shaded.

Wotherspoon took Maybury's long, crossfield pass and dinked the ball through for Griffiths. He was onside and jabbed a low finish which went through Jamie MacDonald's legs, deflecting off them into the corner.

On the hour Griffiths would have had another had he shot on target after making space for himself with an excellent turn. He was later substituted to a standing ovation.

Hearts did have chances to win it. Templeton's corner was met by a close-range header from McGowan, powerful but wide. He later had another attempt. There would be no on-field confirmation of their superiority this time, though.

During the second half Hibs' Paul Cairney was physically sick on the pitch but was able to carry on. That pretty much summed up how Hibs as a whole have felt all summer. They would have felt a degree of dread about this match for weeks but now they can move on. At last, the very worst of what happened at Hampden is out of their system.

Taken from the Herald