Hearts 1 Hibernian 2: Edinburgh turns a shade greener after dramatic turn of events

SO now Hibernian have a derby five of their own.

It has taken them a year to put together, and it falls way short of the five that always will be rammed down their throats by Hearts, but boy will they get a few months' pleasure out of it. For the first time in 12 years Hibs have gone a whole season unbeaten against their neighbours, which amounts to five fixtures when their William Hill Scottish Cup victory is added to a quartet of unbeaten league games.

Sweetest of all was coming from behind to win at Tynecastle yesterday with wonderful goals from Leigh Griffiths and, in the 90th minute, Ross Caldwell. The Hibs fans in the Roseburn Stand – already boisterous enough when the scores were level – exploded when Caldwell placed a delicious shot into the top-right corner. Hibs deservedly had their first league win over Hearts in four years.

The fifth and final derby of the campaign was about the best of the bunch, although it couldn't help looking like exactly what it was: the team placed 10th in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League taking on the side in ninth. It was breathless, scrappy, frantic and tense, not that the lack of football weakened the hypnotic hold it had on supporters.

When Caldwell scored the police suddenly had to spring into action, lifting three fans from the Hibs end plus one joker who leapt from behind the Hearts goal and ran 70 yards up the middle of the pitch. Over the whole afternoon the score in smoke bombs was 3-1: one maroon, three green. It was the last Scottish fixture to be shown live by ESPN, whose production crew must have packed up and left Tynecastle shaking their heads in wonder at the sights and sounds of this noisy and raw Edinburgh theatre.

Going from 5-1 to Hearts in the Scottish Cup final to five unbeaten games for Hibs inevitably oxygenates debate over whether the balance of power has been transferred within Edinburgh. "The tide is turning," said Caldwell, who now has a record of eight goals in eight starts against Hearts, seven of them at youth level. "It's not completely shifted yet, but we are getting there."

A few minutes later Darren Barr, having played his last home game for Hearts before his contract runs out, took a predictably contradictory line. "It will take them years," he said. "Years of them finishing above us."

Being the best in Edinburgh matters but the real priority for both must be to assemble more substantial teams than their current ones. Hearts were poor, lacking quality and imagination. Michael Ngoo and John Sutton were meant to batter Hibs' untried central pairing – Paul Hanlon and 19-year-old debutant Jordan Forster – replacing the injured James McPake – but they weren't remotely up to the job.

Hibs were more convincing. Tom Taiwo, Jorge Claros, Kevin Thomson and, especially, Alex Harris, were a bright midfield four and inevitably Griffiths was a handful, finishing the day with the 100th goal of his senior career.

It would have been harsh if Hibs had lost, which had seemed possible when they fell behind. Goalkeeper Ben Williams flapped at a cross, not for the first time in the game, and Hearts had the opener. Williams flung his arms up at Kevin McHattie's corner but missed it, allowing Ngoo to bundle in behind him and send a downward header towards the net. Taiwo desperately blocked it on the line but amid the bedlam the ball merely broke for Barr to hook it low into the net. "It's his first goal since the 19th of May 2012," bellowed the stadium announcer, referencing the cup final date with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

Griffiths' goal was the one thing of beauty in the whole match. Hearts were right to fear what might be coming when Mehdi Taouil fouled Harris around 28 yards out; the distance was easily within Griffiths range and the position suited a left-foot shot. Hearts duly made their wall, Jamie MacDonald positioned himself, and the Hearts support tried to put the striker off. Griffiths could not have looked less concerned if he had puffed on a cigar. He swept a shot over the wall and down under the bar. The moment electrified Griffiths, who raced off with his thumb raised to the Hearts fans before being buried under a pile of his team-mates. The striker, who has scored 28 times this season, is taunted by Hearts fans for "looking like a thumb".

He looks pretty good to Hibs and so did Caldwell's nerveless winner. Jamie Hamill gave possession away in the corner and Griffiths helped the ball on its way to Scott Robertson. His lay-off gave Caldwell a split-second to quickly lift a sumptuous finish into the far corner. Hearts were out of everything, including time.

Victory meant Hibs leapfrogged Hearts in the league and the balance-of-power debate must accommodate their imminent Scottish Cup final, too, in which Hibs will face Celtic. "We've had our little bit of payback this year," said Pat Fenlon, the Hibs manager, of the derbies. "But the real payback would be to beat Celtic."

Taken from the Herald