Stevenson injury casts shadow over derby win

Gary Locke, the Hearts manager, will brace himself for depressing news today as a scan may confirm that Ryan Stevenson will be out injured for up to nine months.

Callum Paterson's late header won the Edinburgh derby against Hibernian yesterday and started to eat into Hearts' 15-point SPFL Premiership penalty for being in administration, but the victory was overshadowed by Stevenson's injury.

The midfielder was one of only two outfield players over the age of 22 in Locke's team but they now face the prospect of playing most of the season without him. "It looks a bad one, maybe his medial ligament," said Locke. "It looks like I'm going to lose him for a number of weeks, which is a huge blow because as everybody knows we've not got the biggest of squads and he's a valuable player."

A poor but hard-fought derby delivered Hearts' first win over Hibs since the 2012 Scottish Cup final. "Putting a wee bit of pressure on the teams above us meant it was huge," said Locke. "The fans have been through an awful lot over the summer and hopefully that will be a result that keeps them happy.

"It certainly wasn't a classic. It was 100 miles an hour without a lot of football being played but I think you saw two teams that were competitive and a wee bit of quality has won us the game."

Paterson's goal was all the most satisfying for Locke because it came from a move they had worked on in training on Friday: the 18-year-old attacking crosses to the near post.

Some Hibs fans gestured angrily towards manager Pat Fenlon at full-time and the manager is under growing pressure after four straight defeats, including the 7-0 capitulation at home to Malmo, so far this season. Hibs have yet to even score.

Fenlon acknowledged speculation about his own future was inevitable. "I've no problem with people looking at my position, no problem at all. How do I feel about my position? I'm the manager of the club and I'll continue to do that. We've lost two games in the league [to Motherwell and Hearts]. I know Europe was very disappointing but, in both league games, there has been very little in them. I don't think we're too far away from getting a result. We need to get a few more back, if we can, but I'm happy with the squad we've got.

"A result is what it needs. One result. Footballers live on confidence and if you can get just one result on the board that helps breed confidence. There has been very little in both of the league games we've played. A break of the ball in either one of them and we could have got something.

"We didn't deserve to lose, I think. At the time they scored I thought we were probably in the ascendancy and had created a couple of chances."

Taken from the Herald