27th May 2023. Hearts 1 Hibs1

 

Final SPFL match of the season to decide fourth/fifth place and who will have the easier route in European football next season. However if Inverness beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup final next week the fifth placed finisher will not qualify for European football next season. Today was yet another early kickoff at 12.30 due to the Harry Styles concert at Murrayfield later today. To make things worse Hearts could not show the match on PFV as Sky were showing Celtic v Aberdeen which kicked off at the same time. I had a couple of bacon rolls for lunch and left for Tynecastle around 11.45 arriving after a leisurely stroll at 12.15. I scanned my season ticket for entry and headed for my seat in the main stand to watch the final stages of the warm-ups. 

Steven Naismith made two changes from the side that drew 2-2 against Rangers at Ibrox during the week. Alex Cochrane and Barrie Mckay returned in place of Alan Forrest and Toby Sibbick.The return of Cochrane allowed Kye Rowles to return to his favoured centre-back position after playing ay left-back against Rangers. Hibs fielded their usual side with long-serving veterans Lewis Stevenson and Paul Hanlon in defence. Up front Hearts would need to watch the pace of Élie Youan and the scoring abilities of Kevin Nisbet. 

Hearts started well and opened the scoring after eight minutes. A long throw from James Hill was headed cleared by the Hibs defence but only as far as Yutaro Oda on the edge of the penalty box. her fired a low shot passed David Marshall into the corner of the net to put Hearts ahead. As the payers and fans celebrated Hill was booked for over-exuberance, which was unusual as t is normally the goal-scorer who ends up with a yellow card. Hearts lost Peter Haring after eighteen minutes and he was replaced by Kio Haring had a clash of heads with His Chris Caddden and had to be helped from the field with a head knock. Given he has only recently returned after after a three month absence due to concussion The new injury is concerning especially as he had signed a contract extension earlier in the week. The game changing moment came after twenty-seven minutes when Alex Cochrane was red carded for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity. The referee's original decision was a penalty and a yellow card for Cochrane. The VAR review indicated the foul on Cadden was outside the penalty area and as the double jeopardy rule only applies in the penalty area the crd was upgraded to a red. to make matters worse Nisbet fired the free-kick [past the defensive wall and Zander Clark in the Hearts goal to equalise for Hibs. Hearts replaced the attacking threat of Barrie McKay with Toby Sibbick to allow them to continue with a back four. With Hearts down to ten men Hibs had the advantage’although Hibs should have also been down to ten men after Stevenson elbowed Oda in the face. For some reason the referee only showed a yellow card for what I would have thought was violent conduct. With a man advantage His had most of the play but the hearts defence kept them away from the goal although Clark made a couple of god saves from shots by Hanlon and and Joe Newell, both of which were from the edge of the penalty area. 

At halftime Hibs brought on Harry McKirdy and Ewan Henderson to bolster their attacking options. Nisbet had a heading chance minutes after halftime ut flick a Cadden cross past the post. McKirdy also had a chance from another cross from the right but again headed past the post. Hearts were struggling to make any attacking moves although Shankland was doing well holing the ball up hen the ball was cleared by the defence. Clark made another good save to push away a header from Hanlon following a Newell corner but in truth Hearts were defending early well with Atkinson containing Youan down the Hibs left wing. Hearts defended really well and His had few clear changes in the second half before things kicked off after the final whistle and nine minutes added time. The problem started when His Manager Lee Johnson punched Hearts interim boss Naismith. I did not see this as it happened in the dugout area and I was sanding watching the players celebrating. Both sides headed towards the centre circle and His Rocky Bushiri, an unused substitute was looking to cause trouble. There was pushing, shoving and punches thrown by both sides in the centre of the pitch before the players left the field. Hearts has sub goalkeeper Ross Stewart and coach Paul Gallecher red-carded wile the Bushiri and Johnson were red carded by the referee. Michael Smith who has not been offered a new contract was on the pitch and making farewells to the fans and looked really ecstatic as Hearts qualified for Europe.

I did not stay for the lap of honour as I did not think this was appropriate for a fourth place finish. I walked home happy with the result after an excellent defensive performance but disappointed Hearts had thrown away third place. 

Teams

Hearts: Clark, Haring, Shankland, Atkinson, Devlin, Rowles, McKay, Cochrane, Ginnelly, Hill, Oda.

Subs: Kiomourtzoglou, Halliday, Forrest, Sibbick. 

Hibs: Marshall, Miller, Hanlon, Doyle-Hayes, Newell, Cadden, Jeggo, Nisbet, Stevenson, Youan, Fish

Subs: Cabraja, Devlin, Henderson, McKirdy, Campbell, Delferriere