Hibs 0-2 Hearts

If there’s one man for whom Hearts should be eternally grateful for making this one of their most comfortable derby victories at Easter Road in years, it would surely have to be Hibs striker Stephen Fletcher.

Until the half hour-mark in this Scottish Cup Third Round tie, which was played in truly awful conditions which were always likely to ensure a scrappy affair, this match was very much in the balance, with only particularly brave men likely to have confidently predicted a winner.

However enter hapless home striker Fletcher, no doubt frustrated after missing Hibs’ best (only?) chance of the match (and the first serious opening for either side) when put clean through on Balogh by Sol Bamba (the Hearts keeper made a fine save at his feet, although Fletcher really should have scored). It was his ludicrous lunge at Hearts captain Christophe Berra that effectively ended his side’s chances of winning this tie at the first attempt, and regardless of the Hibs fans’ reaction to the immediate red card shown by referee Craig Thomson, there really was no option for the man in the middle on this occasion. I had a very clear view of the challenge and it was a shocker -definitely a pre-meditated attempt to seriously injure Berra, who was a target for several late challenges from the Hibs forwards in the first half. Fletcher had to go, and he took his side’s chances of winning today with him.

Up until that point, it was difficult to see how this game was going to develop. Hibs certainly appeared to be the slightly more positive of the two sides during the early exchanges, but generally it had been a very poor game of football – certainly nowhere near as entertaining as last week’s goalless draw at Tynecastle in terms of the standard of football being played.

Although I do think that neither Hibs nor Hearts had particularly good teams on the park this afternoon, I would put the majority of this poor play down to the weather, as even the best players in the world would have struggled with those conditions out there – a combination of a fierce swirling wind and pouring rain is never conducive to a good game of football, sadly, and perhaps if this hadn’t been a derby match that was live on TV, they may well have considered a postponement.

After Fletcher’s red card the whole complexion of the match changed, and to be honest even at 0-0 I really struggled to see Hibs being a serious threat to what was still admittedly a Hearts side lacking any real cutting edge.

I hadn’t been very impressed by our Edinburgh rivals last week and after now seeing Mixu’s team in action for two weeks running, I’d have to say that I haven’t seen such a poor Hibs side for quite a few years – they just don’t seem to have any real cohesion or purpose at all, and even if they do have a couple of decent individual players, that’s exactly what they look like out there – individuals in mediocre surroundings. That doesn’t reflect particularly well on Mixu and his management team, and I’d imagine they’ll be under a fair bit of pressure if they can’t turn things around very soon, especially in the wake of being knocked out of the cup by their Edinburgh rivals.

Given the mediocrity of our opposition and the fact that the stuffing really seemed to be knocked out of Hibs after the Fletcher sending off, it was little surprise that Hearts very soon began to take a real grip on proceedings, even if they very seldom created a clear cut chance.

Cesnauskis and Driver always looked fairly lively on the wings and Christian Nade was doing his usual sterling job at holding the ball up when brought into the play, and it was the latter two who combined to put Hearts in front just before half-time. Driver was put in the clear on the left hand side of the penalty area, and his cutback was converted by Nade for a long overdue goal for the striker, with Hibs goalkeeper Ma-Kalambay nowhere. From this point on it really was going to take something silly to prevent Hearts from progressing to the next round of the cup.

Half time 0-1

Hearts made the extra man count in the second half and totally dominated possession for the first 20 minutes or so. However although it’s always good to see your team keeping the ball, the nature of Hearts’ play was very frustrating, as that same old problem of not being able to produce quality in the final third of the field reared its ugly head once again.

At times the amount of space and time afforded to the Hearts midfield was embarrassing, but they still couldn’t contrive to score a second goal and put the tie to bed. At one stage it was almost as if they were trying to walk the ball into the goal, but a reality check would tell you that it was simply the case that there was no-one out there in a maroon jersey who appeared to be comfortable when given a half-chance in and around the penalty area. Too often the likes of Driver, Cesnauskis, Obua and to a lesser extent Nade would be looking to play another pass instead of going for goal themselves, which tells you all you need to know when it comes to whether or not these guys are natural forwards. The simple fact of the matter is that none of them are, and that is what the missing ingredient in the side is and has been for most of the season.

The longer things stayed at 1-0, the more nervous we were becoming that a single mistake could throw Hibs a lifeline, but although there was one almighty scramble inside the Hearts penalty box midway through the second half, they were thankfully able to see the match out with minimal fuss.

The icing was put on the cake of what is bound to be a morale-boosting victory in injury time (just where did they find those five extra minutes by the way?) when substitute Gary Glen burst onto a nice defence-splitting pass from the outstanding Hristos Karipidis to round new Hibs goalie Szamotulski and roll the ball into the empty net. Cue wild scenes of celebration in the away end amid confirmation of their side’s qualification for the next round of the competition, and it was great to see a young Hearts striker getting a goal in such a high profile match – this can surely only help Glen’s cause for more regular involvement with the first team squad in the future.

In conclusion, as Hearts fans we really couldn’t have asked for much more before today in terms of the way that things worked out in the end. There won’t have been too many Jambos who’d have turned down a comfortable 2-0 victory if they’d been offered one before the game, and perhaps the fact that our considerable deficiencies in the forward areas of the field were once again glaringly obvious in such a high profile match will only further Csaba Laszlo’s determination to put that right. I really hope so as there’s always the tendency for a win over Hibs to paper over the cracks of what the real problems still are. However I’m quite sure that Csaba is too shrewd a cookie to let that happen.

All in all, a pretty fruitful afternoon for the JTs….

Player Ratings

Balogh 6
Similarly to last week, had very little to do bar one save from Fletcher. The striker looked certain to score on that occasion, but Balogh did very well to get down at his feet and dispossess the Hibs frontman. Still doesn’t command his area enough though, and this needs to be worked on.

Jonsson 7
Did very well deputising for Neilson at right-back. Eggert was playing in his third different position in as many matches, and it does look as though he tends to play better in the more defensive areas.

Wallace 7
Pretty solid throughout, and came onto a really good game in the second half when he was able to play to his strength of bursting forward. Fired over a couple of great crosses during that period that, as usual, no-one was able to take full advantage of.

Berra 8
A rock throughout, and showed a great temperament in not being drawn into some nonsense following Fletcher’s red card. Berra was already on a booking (deserved in my view for a deliberate block), but despite several shocking challenges on him he never let it fluster him.

Zaliukas 7
Had one ‘iffy’ headed ‘backpass’ in the first half, but apart from that Zaliukas was solid and did very well alongside Berra. Had much easier time of things after Fletcher went off.

Karipidis 8
Had a really fine game, both defensively and going forward. Rarely wasted a pass and always helped Hearts to keep their shape with a disciplined performance. Great pass for Glen’s clincher.

Palazuelos 6
Had a bit of a dodgy start when he misplaced a few passes and got overrun a tad, but once Hibs had ten men he was in his element, with the time and space he likes to make his passes.

Obua 4
I’ve no idea why this guy is playing. He wasn’t quite as bad as some people around me were making out, but generally he looks lost out there, especially playing in such an advanced position, and may now benefit from a few extra training sessions and reserve games.

Driver 6
Drifted in and out of the game, but the longer time went on the more he came into things. Created a few late openings, including a shot that Szamotulski did well to save.

Cesnauskis 7
Put in a really good shift and gave Ian Murray a difficult afternoon.

Nade 8
Great strength in keeping the ball when under pressure from several opponents at a time, and great to see him scoring in this fixture.

Glen 5
Only on the park for the latter stages, but took his goal very well to round the ‘keeper and slot home. Encouraging.