29th August 2017 Hibs Colts v Hearts Colts 1-4

The day before this game Hearts announced Craig Levein has agreed to take on the role of First Team Manager at the club. He will continue to hold a seat on the board and, as such, will retain the overall responsibilities associated with his current role of Director of Football. After all the talk that Craig Levein was too involved in first team matters in his role as Director of Football it was surprising that he had taken managers job when a number of other candidates had also been in the frame. Craig had managed Hearts previously and the team had been quite successful qualifying for European competition in two years. However the standard of football was not great as Craig used to pick big strong players and seemed to be against having those with a higher degree of skill but less physical in the side. These same principles seemed to apply to his sides after he left Hearts and in particular in his roles as manager at Dundee United and also in his tenure as Scotland boss. It will be interesting to see how this spell turns out given he has been given a three year contract.

The U20 derby was held at Hearts training base at Riccarton although it was a Hibs home fixture. The game was held on the indoor 4G pitch at the Oriam which is the largest indoor pitch in Scotland. I like the Oriam although my only complaint is that it is sometimes difficult to see the goalposts given the walls of the arena are also white. Is there a rule against having goalposts in any colour other than white? Hearts fielded a strong side with newly signed goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin and Prince Bauben as overage payers. In addition Jamie Brandon, Callum Morrison, Angus Beith, Rory Currie, Dario Zanatta and Lewis Moore had all appeared in the first team.

Despite the strength of the Hearts side Hibs made most of the early running and took the lead in 14 minutes when Callum Crane fired into the top corner from 20 yards out with Jon McLaughlin in the Hearts goal well-beaten. Hearts soon equalised as Currie spun his man in the box and tucked his effort low beyond Ross Laidlaw.

Shortly after halftime a cross into the box was missed by several defenders. The ball landed at the feet of Moore who fired home via the far post. The next goal came in 77 minutes from a Hibs corner. Brandon lead the counter-attack when he broke from defence and as the Hibs defence struggled to get back and cover he squared to Moore who scored his second goal of the game. Hearts scored a fourth in injury time through Morrison with a curling effort from 25 yards. Morrison has been doing well on loan to Stirling Albion and this spectacular finish showed he is a good future prospect for the first team.

All in all a good all round performance from Hearts with plenty promise for the future from the younger players in the side. I caught a 34 bus back home from Riccarton, The driver was Gordon who I knew, having worked with his wife Jan. Gordon is a fellow Jambo and we had a good chat about football and in particular the appointment of Craig Levein as I got on and off the bus.

Teams

Hearts Colts: McLaughlin, Brandon, Godinho, Gajda, C.Hamilton, Buaben, Morrison, Beith, Currie, Zanatta, Moore.

Subs:  Reid, Petkov,Leonard 

Hibs Colts: Laidlaw, Blake, Mackie, O’Connor, Waugh, Crane, Watson, Stirling, Gullan, S. Martin, Murray.

Subs: Paton