The derby from a Maroon point of view

David Henderson

After the disappointment of seeing my team knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Celtic, my thoughts started to turn towards the Edinburgh derby, taking place uniquely in midweek. Trust be told, I started thinking about the derby once the Welsh moan meister scored to seemingly put the match beyond reach. 

Hearts 1-2 Hibs

A spirited second half rally by my Jambos and the seemingly bottle crashing of the green side of Edinburgh, gave me some optimism ahead of the derby. Many Hibs fans writing off their own teams chances of taking even a point was somewhat surprising while I worried at the over confidence of some Jambos. I suppose quietly, I expected my team to win and close the gap on 3^rd place, not really contemplating the effect that a defeat would hold. Normally both sets of supporters start to look forward to the derby weeks in advance so it was a little strange to see it on the back burner due to semi-final obligations (sounds nice).

The build up to the terrible day itself (speaking form a maroon point of view) was not the stuff of legend for me. Despite being on annual leave from work, my part-time Uni studies dictated that my entire day would be spent at Napier University completely my Law assignment due in for the following day. Having duly completely my homework and feeling rather pleased with myself, I felt I should be rewarded with a nice derby win. Oh how wrong I would be! Having met up with my brother for a meal before walking to the ground, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of supporters for both teams. Upon thinking about it a little further, it occurred to me that they were all in the pub getting smashed in order to help conquer those derby nerves.

Onto the actual match and was a setting for a midweek derby. Floodlights were on, crows were pumped up and not a single seat to be had. Hearts began the game at a frantic pace without really testing your goalie, Mr Brown. Your favourite Hibee Paul Hartley came close after a surging run while Jamie McAllister saw his free-kick easily held by the Hibs keeper. McAllister is a pile of crap as player with no ability whatsoever. Just how the hell did he score the winning goal in a cup final against you guys? Every time Hibs got forward for an attack, it was either caught offside or one of the forwards would slip as was the case with O’Conner and the Mighty Deeks(!) It was being played at a frantic pace with Hearts mostly on the ascendancy yet the first goal didn’t look like coming with a half-time blank the most likely outcome. Then came a complete sitter, courteously of Captain Caveman, as you lot know him. The corner swings in for Hearts and from only a couple of yards, big Elvis somehow manages to screw it wide. Not the best time to do an impression of Mickey Weir(!)

Then completely out of the blue, we scored first amid scenes of eruption from our section after a delayed reaction of several seconds. There was generally confusion upon what actually happened and I have no clue what your goalkeeper was thinking. The free-kick is swung in upon which Lee Miller glances a harmless looking header towards the goal. From my angle, it seemed that the ball went wide. Then the Wheatfield stand started celebrating and I genuinely thought a penalty had been given. When I realised it was in fact a goal, I was gob-smacked. From our angle, sitting in the main stand, the ball appeared to go wide. Ya dancer, I thought, the potential was there to pump you lot! As the incompetent Kirkcaldy egghead blew for half-time, Hibs looked quite relieved to be still in the game at only 1-0 up.

At half-time, I still wasn’t comfortable with the lead. Knowing Hibs would give it a real go, my gut feeling was that we would try and sneak a second on the break and hope to hang on. With the inexperience Lee Wallace and Jason Thomson, both 17 years old, play left and right back respectively. Hibs began the second half pumping long balls forward trying to exploit the inexperience. Suddenly moans and groans made the way into our section as Hearts just couldn’t get the ball off Hibs. We were playing second rate and it was only a matter of time before our lead would disappear so felt those around us.

It looked like you had done it when Craig Gordon suffered a moment of madness. With the ball seemingly in his grasp, the wee spiky haired nyaff Deeks with good feet, somehow managed to tackle Gordon from behind and pout the ball into the net. 1-1 surely. But somehow the referee adjudged it to be a foul and we were off the hook, albeit not for long as it turned out. Had that occurred at the other end of the ground, we would have been raging and the general consensus was that it looked to be a fair goal. We still couldn’t string 2 passes together and it came as no surprise when Hibs scored. A long ball harmlessly heads towards Craig Gordon, who fails to shout, leaving a confused Thomson PASSING the ball straight to O’Conner who must have pissed himself laughing at how easy it was. Cue jubilant Hibees and distraught Jambos. However on the balance of the play, we couldn’t complain. Before we knew it, the big sub giving us all kinds of problems, sees a shot hit the bar and our defence stood still admiring the worms (not the Hibs fans :-p) while Shiels smacks the shot into the net. A total destruction before out eyes and I just couldn’t see how we would come back from this despite being 20 or minutes left to try. Robbo got his tactics wrong and went for the hit and hope method, which was meat, and drink for the Hibs defence. Anytime the ball bounce din the Hibs penalty area, it was a green shirt that got there first.

As time ticked down, I accepted that this wasn’t going to be our season for finishing 3^rd. Upon the full-time whistle, Hibees went wild like they had won the World Cup or something. One win in 5 years at Tynecastle and probably deserved on the night, I hope it doesn’t happen again anytime soon. With the next derby rumoured to be round the corner, I can only hope Hearts restore some pride and put in a much better performance than Wednesday’s nonsense. Good first half but gash second.

Exiting the ground wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. In fact both sets of supporters walked alongside each without any hint of trouble. Had one of the Old Firm been playing, the visiting fans would have been causing trouble in their hundreds as is always the case. At the end of the day, it’s a game, a good bit of banter and respectful fans. Hibs have done really well this season and I’ve enjoyed the chase although obviously disappointed with the finish form our point of view. Its good to have 2 teams in Edinburgh at the right place on the league, just the maroon and green places are the wrong way round for now.

I hope the Easter Road scoreline finishes 1-2 with us taking the 3 points. Oh well, I can dream can’t I. It’s quite ironic that a Hibs win last week over United would have meant 4^th place being good enough for Europe. Us Jambos just didn’t want to take that chance!