Fletcher seals derby win for Hibs

A looping header from Steven Fletcher was enough to secure all three points in an edinburgh derby that saw two red cards on the stroke of half time.

Hearts Keeper Janos Balogh and Hibs defender Souleymane Bamba were both shown straight reds for cynical fouls, denying goal-scoring opportunities to Fletcher and Christian Nade respectively.

Despite taking the upper hand for the majority of the match, Hibs began on the back foot as a series of attacking plays were strung together by Csaba Laszlo’s men.

A flick-on from Nade was controlled by Andrew Driver in the seventh minute, but the Englishman’s cross fell just beyond Bruno Aguiar.

Moments later, Hearts again came close when Nade did well to beat the Hibees back line and whip in a cross to Aguiar, but the Portuguese was only able to head wide of the mark.

However, nine minutes into the game, Hibs found their form as Derek Riordan latched onto an inch-perfect cross-field ball from Fletcher, unleashing a 30-yard strike at goal, only to be denied by the upright.

Four minutes later, the home side found themselves a goal to the good as a superb ball from Denes Rosa found Alan O’Brien, who charged up the wing and crossed into the area for Fletcher to loop a ball met by his shoulder above and beyond the reach of Balogh.

Despite a number of encouraging attacks, Hibs came dangerously close to throwing their narrow lead away on 20 minutes. Having executed a well-timed sliding tackle on Driver, Bamba attempted a horrendous back-pass from deep inside the area, which was intercepted by Nade, who somehow failed to score from five yards out.

With half time fast approaching, Fletcher found himself one-on-one with Balogh, but his run towards goal was ended by a foul from the Heart’s ‘keeper, whose failed attempt to clear the ball outside of his area resulted in a foul and subsequent sending off. As a result, Aguiar was forced to make way for Hearts substitute goalie Jamie MacDonald.

But Hibs were only able to enjoy a one-man advantage for little over a minute, as a Hearts counter-attack resulted in striker Nade being brought down on the edge of the area by Bamba, who was promptly red carded, bringing the two sides to ten men apiece.

Deep into added time, Hearts came agonisingly close to bringing the game back on level terms, but Michael Stewart’s curling free-kick was tipped onto the bar and away from danger by Grzegorz Szamotulski.

Eager to draw level after the restart, Hearts produced the first scoring chance of the second half when Robbie Neilson rifled a 40-yard strike at the Hibs goal, only for his shot to be was deflected wide. Further chances fell to Stewart and Nade in the following minutes, but the Jambos consistently failed to find the back of the net.
Hibs were soon to turn the tables, however, and looked likely to make the men from Gorgie pay for their careless defending, in a spell that saw Hearts concede three corners in the space of a minute.

The Jambos again found themselves in trouble after 72 minutes, when a spectacular ball from Riordan found Fletcher, who fired at goal from 20 yards, but was denied by a fine save from MacDonald.

A clear sense of urgency dictated the performance of the Hearts players in the final ten minutes, and the away side looked more than odds-on to draw level in the 84th minute, but Nade’s header from a Cristos Kiripidis free kick was rebounded off the cross-bar.

Impressive runs up the wing from substitute Saulius Mikoliunas in the dying minutes continued to fuel the Hearts fans hope for an equaliser, but the Easter Road rearguard remained strong until the final whistle.

After the match, Hearts Manager Laszlo lamented his team’s inability to find the back of the net:

“I don’t like to criticise anybody,” he said, “but we had a lot of chances and we didn’t score, maybe this has been the biggest problem all season.

In the second half out of 45 minutes we played, I think, about 35 minutes in the opponents’ half, but we didn’t have the luck today.”

Laszlo added: “The difference between professional football and amateur football is that if you have a chance, you must score. If you need five or six chances, this is very bad”.

Hibs Manager Mixu Paatelainin was quick to praise his players’ performance, emphasising the significance of winning on derby-day:

“These matches are special days, whether you’re a player, coach, manager or supporter,” he said. “It means so much to so many people and it was a delight to get three points”

“It’s three points to add to your tally but it’s also about the pride. Derby matches are special days.

“99 per cent of the time the work rate and the effort is there. The boys are fantastic during the week in training. They really try hard and put the effort in and today the determination was visible.”