We’ve made our point Final hell's a distant memory

Now Pat Fenlon reckons they can at last hold their heads high after yesterday’s morale-boosting triumph at Tynecastle.

The 2-1 victory ensured Hibs finished the season without defeat against Hearts.

It’s a first step towards redemption following the 5-1 Scottish Cup Final defeat to their city rivals last May.

An overjoyed Fenlon said: “I certainly enjoyed that and I’m sure the supporters are enjoying it as well.

“It’s about the fans. They have been taking a lot of flak and I feel I’m to blame for that after the Cup Final defeat last year.

“So it’s good to get them celebrating and enjoying a win like this.

“It’s satisfying for me, too. It’s fantastic to come here and beat them after losing the Cup Final to them, which was so hard to take.

“Everybody has had to take flak but that happens in football and you just have to deal with that.

“We’ve had our little bit of payback this year.

“But the real payback would be to beat Celtic in the Cup Final — that would be a big fillip for the fans.

“I don’t know if this is a turning point, but what we did say is that we wanted to improve and be competitive in all the derbies.

“We’ve won two, one in this season’s Scottish Cup and now a league game at Tynecastle for the first time in a while.

“We have also gone through the season unbeaten against them, which hasn’t happened in 12 years.

“So that is progress. It’s a step on the ladder, but we won’t get too carried away because we’ve got a couple more SPL games to go and then another massive match with the Cup Final.”

Fenlon reserved special praise for 19-year-old debutant centre-half Jordon Forster, who impressed in the absence of skipper James McPake.

He added: “I’ve probably got myself a headache now for the Cup Final because some of the boys who stepped in did really well.

“Take young Jordon, who played in his first game against two big physical presences and did really well.

“Jordon played 90 minutes for the Under-20s against Celtic on Tuesday and Thursday, so to come straight into the first team like that is a fantastic credit to him.”

Meanwhile, opposite number Gary Locke slammed his Hearts players for failing to show the stomach for a derby dust-up.

He said: “We never got going at all and that was the biggest disappointment.

“We’d been playing well and had quite rightly been getting plaudits over the last three or four weeks.

“We just never got going and there is nothing I can put my finger on because the preparation was the same as for any other derby.

“Early in the game Hibs played at a tempo I had been expecting from my players.

“In a derby game you have to be at it and win your individual battles and we just weren’t at it.”