How stretching a strangled midfield was key to Hibs' victory over Hearts

By Jamie Borthwick 3 December 2012 12:01 GMT

David Wotherspoon found the room to exploit Hearts' defensive weakness and secure victory,© SNS Group

On the face of things, a heavy deflection from a speculative shot was what won Hibernian their first Edinburgh derby in 13 attempts.

The 83 minutes leading up to the goal, a game with few chances and an air of attrition, saw Pat Fenlon’s side adapt until they finally found the goal.

The first period saw Hearts maintain the lion’s share of possession and chances.

John McGlynn’s side looked to find left winger Arvydas Novikovas low and early in the hope of catching David Wotherspoon upfield – leaving the Lithuanian with a one-on-one with Alan Maybury.

The majority of the chances they created in that half came through this outlet.

Wotherspoon was causing problems of his own up against 19-year-old Kevin McHattie. The most telling contribution of the game came in the sixth minute when the teenager upended the Hibs’ midfielder and earned a yellow card.

If the home side had expected to target the Scotland Under-21 full back to exploit his lack of experience before the game, the booking piled the pressure on McHattie and Novikovas withdrew deeper to help him out.

Hearts have a formidable defence, with right back Ryan McGowan and centre halves Andrew Webster and Marius Zaliukas all international caps for their countries.

They were pushing Hibs’ main threat, Leigh Griffiths, out into the channels and as far as the right wing, effectively nullifying the striker’s best asset – getting between the centre halves to test the goalkeeper.

On the left, Paul Cairney was industrious and daring, but well marshalled by McGowan.

The second half became narrower, and both teams felt stifled by it. Tom Taiwo and Jorge Claros struggled to be the link to the strikers as Darren Barr, Ryan Stevenson and Mehdi Taouil strangled the middle.

Andrew Driver had replaced the injured Novikovas at half time and, with Jamie Walker being drawn infield in search of the ball, Driver was the one player who kept hugging the touchline.

Driver was released a handful of times, but Hearts struggled to get the ball to him early enough to get the room to produce an accurate delivery.

Substitutions played their part – but the forced changes resulting from injuries to Griffiths for Hibs and Barr for Hearts did not unduly alter the pattern of play.

Within three minutes of each other, first Fenlon replaced Eoin Doyle with Ivan Sproule, then John Sutton was introduced by McGlynn to replace Walker.

Sproule’s introduction stretched the Hearts midfield as the Northern Irishman was charged with using his pace down the left.

Sutton became the focal point of Hearts’ four-pronged attack, Callum Paterson shifted to the right but drifted inside to challenge high balls and look for knock-downs.

As Hearts kept their eyes on Sproule, Wotherspoon found the room he had rarely been gifted since the first half.

Collecting the ball inside the Hearts half he ran at McHattie, who was still one poor challenge away from a red card, and exploited his weak challenge.

Wotherspoon’s shot took the killer deflection and settled the match.