28th February 2024 Hearts 1 Hibs 1

 

Back to Tynecastle tonight for the Edinburgh Derby. For some strange reason Sky were showing Livingston v Motherwell rather than this game. I left home around 18.50 and walked to Tynecastle arriving  around 19.55. For some I could not record attendance on my Futbology app as it was showing a server error. I scanned my season ticket for entry and headed up to my seat in section R in the Main Stand then sat to watch the warmups. At one stage Gary Mackay, a former Hearts midfielder, was interviewed on the pitch. I am sure it was just to wind up the Hibs fans as he talked about Hearts going through seventeen and later twenty-two matches with defeat.

Hearts manager Steven Naismith made three changes to his Edinburgh derby line-up after their 5-0:defeat by Rangers on Saturday. Cammy Devlin, Alan Forrest and Scott Fraser all came into the starting XI, as Beni Baningime, Jorge Grant and Kye Rowles dropped out. As for Hibs, under Nick Montgomery, things were completely different. When was younger I could indentify most of the Hibs players but, with Paul Hanlon and Lewis Stevenson not in the starting eleven, the only starter I knew was keeper David Marshall. Hibs are making a lot of use of the loan system and in the January transfer window signed Elezander Mayender(Sunderland), Emiliano Marcondes(Bournemouth), Nectarios Triantis(Sunderland) along with fee agent Luke Amos(Queens Park Rangers).

It was a strange game throughout with non of the passion and excitement normally seeen in an Edinburgh Derby. Hibs had an early chance when a header from Ricky Bushiri was deflected wide before Forrest almost scored from a cross which a Hibs keeper Marshall did well to block. Hibs went ahead in twenty seven minutes when Martin Boyle broke into the penalty box on the right. His shot beat Zander Clark in the Hearts goal but was cleared of the line by Steven Kingsley. Unfortunately the ball fell to Marcondes who shot home from around ten yards. Hearts equalised as the game moved into injury time. Forrest was blocked by the Hibs defence as he moved into the penalty area on the left. The ball however broke to Kenneth a Vargas who was clippped from behind by Will Fish. It looked soft but after a VAR review Hearts were awarded a penalty. With Hearts last penalty scored by Grant who was on the bench. Lawrence Shankland took the kick and gave Marshall in the Hibs goal no chance with a shot into the left side of the goal. Shankland however had to contend with a number of Hibs fans throwing items onto the pitch in an attempt to put him off. The items included caps, bottle openers , coins and a pie. Shankland caught the pie and pretended to take a bite before throwing it back if the pitch. Thankfully he never took a bite as goodness knows what he would have caught from a pie which had been touched by a Hibs fan. 

Too be perfectly honest nothing much happened in the second half. Hearts replaced Fraser with Beni Baningine five minutes into the half and the change alllowed them more possession in midfield. Forrest brought another good save from Marshall and then Frankie Kent cleared a Marcondes effort of the Hearts goal-line. After seventy-seven minutes Vargas sliced a shot over the bar after Baningime and Shankland set him up. As the match moved into injury time Kent went down twice and required physio treatment to continue. It looked like he maybe out for a few weeks as the final whistle blew.

I walked home thinking it was nott the best Derby I had seen. There just seemed to be a lack of enthusiasm and passion from both sides who seemed happy with a point a piece.

Teams

Hearts: Clark, Kent, Kingsley, Nieuwenhof, Shankland, Atkinson, Devlin, Forrest, Cochrane , Fraser, Vargas.

Subs: Baningime, Grant, Rowles, Pollock. 

 

Hibernian: Marshall, Miller, Fish, Vente, Boyle, Newell ©, Maolida, Hansen, Obita, Moriah-Welsh, Bushiri

Subs:, Levitt, Youan, Triantis.