28th April 2019 Hibs v Hearts 1-1

Final Edinburgh Derby of the season and yet another early (12.15) kick-off for TV purposes. Being a fine day I left the house at 10.35 and walked to Easter Road arriving at around 11.45. As usual programme sellers were conspicuous by their absence from the away end although I ordered mine online and it arrive bed on the Tuesday after the match. After going through two security barriers and a body search I finally got into the ground. My seat  was in the upper tier of the south stand and I had to climb several flights of stairs to the concourse area. After arriving there I purchased a pie and diet coke which I consumed before heading to my seat. I was in the fourth row of the upper tier where a passageway way separates the first two tiers from the rest of the stand. Despite being to the left of the goals I had an excellent view with my seat only three away from the exit stairway. 

Hearts made four changes to the starting line-up after last weeks defeat to Rangers. Connor Shaughnessy and Sean Clare were recalled along with Harry Cochrane, making only his fifth appearance of the season after injuries, and debutant Connor Smith who would play an attacking midfield role support Uche Ikpeazu. His were along their usual lines with loaner Marc McNulty the main attacking threat.

Hearts started well and both Cochrane and Smith looked good in their attacking roles. Cochrane had one excellent piece of skill where he turned away from one Hibs player then another before passing wide to Jake Mulraney. Despite dominating the early stages Hearts were unable to create any clear chances. I noticed my ex-colleague Dave sitting two rows in front of me. He was having difficulty seeing the game as the guys in front and to the side of him were standing all game. He eventually moved to another seat for a better view. Hibs had a chance after eleven minutes after a heavy touch from John Souttar allowed Steven Omeongo a run into the box. He went wide and his attempted cutback was blocked by Bobby Zlamal in the Hearts goal. Souttar seemed to be very nervous and had a particularly poor first half by his own high standards. Two minutes from halftime Mulraney had an excellent run from just inside his own half. After beating two opponents he cut inside a defender to the edge of the penalty area but his shot was punched away by Hibs keeper Ofir Marciano. Zlamal then pushed away a shot from Lewis Stevenson with Christophe Berra clearing McNulty’s follow-up from near the goal-line before the halftime whistle blew.

Hibs started the second half with Vykintas Slivka replacing Florian Kamberi to bolster the midfield. They had the first chance when a cross was headed cleared by Berra to the feet of Stevenson. His low shot looked net bound until Souttar threw himself in front of the ball to deflect it away for a corner. Craig Levien said in the press later in the week that he had asked Souttar at halftime, “Are you wearing John Souttar’s number”. I don’t know if this was true or not but he had a far better second half. Zlamal made a fantastic save when he palmed away a Slivka header from about eight yards after a cross from Stevenson before disaster struck moments later. Ikpeazu tried to clear a corner by miscued and took out the challenging Paul Hanlon in the box. To me it looked like a forward being unsure in his own penalty box but others felt the award was soft. McNulty stepped unto take the kick however his shot struck the outside of the left-hand post and went out for a goal-kick. Hibs went ahead in sixty-seven minutes after a missed challenge allowed the ball to run to Gray on the right. He moved forward and then passed to the over-lapping Daryl Horgan. His cross was low and hard into the penalty box and seemed to become stuck under Berra’s feet before being deflected in for an own goal. Hearts used all three substitutes and equalised in eighty-three minutes. Ikpeazu won the ball in a challenge with Hanlon and Darren McGregor. He passed to Steven MacLean on the left who raced into the penalty box. As MacLean was challenged he laid the ball back to Ikpeazu who had followed him into the box and the striker shot home low for the equaliser. After the cheering died down the woman sitting next to me said, “Sorry I think I stood on your foot in the celebrations. I replied, ” Never felt anything but if I had it would have been worth it”. Hearts had an opportunity to win the game but Ikpeazu’s overhead kick was palmed over the bar by the leaping Marciano. The final whistle went and I felt a draw was a fair result. My only complaint would be Hearts receiving seven yellow cards while Hibs only got three. Indeed, I felt Stevenson could have been red-carded for an incident with MacLean in injury time.

I walked home up Easter Road and then the Royal Mile to Forrest Road. I was going to continue walking but the bus indicator showed a 27 was due. I waited for the bus and finally arrived home just after 15.00 in time for Manchester United v Chelsea on TV. This was another 1-1 draw but I did not enjoy it even half as much as much as the Edinburgh Derby.

Teams

Hibs: Marciano, Gray, Hanlon, Milligan, Horgan, McNulty, Mallan, Stevenson, Kamberi, McGregor, Omeonga. 

Subs: Slivka, Agyepong.

Hearts: Zlamal, M. Smith, Shaughnessy, Souttar, Berra, Clare, Djoum, Ikpeazu, Cochrane, Mulraney, C. Smith. 

Subs: Edwards, MacLean, Bozanic.