Hibs’ defender Darren McGregor said that a draw was a fair reflection on yesterday’s Edinburgh derby with both teams creating chances however he reserved special praise for Ofir Marciano, he Israeli internationalist who produced two excellent saves during the tie.
Speaking after the game to Hibernian TV, McGregor revealed that the players are looking forward to the replay which takes place on Wednesday 22nd February in front of what will likely be a sell out Easter Road stadium but he insisted that their focus will now be on the game against Raith Rovers at starks Park on Saturday.
Hibs go into that game six points clear of second placed Dundee United who lost 3-0 to Falkirk on Saturday with a game in hand and a vastly superior goal difference.
Raith Rovers will of course be managed by former Hibs’ captain and manager John ‘Yogi’ Hughes.
McGregor said: “I think a draw in the end was probably a fair result. They had a couple of good chances, Ofir (Marciano) made a couple of world class saves to be honest, and we had a couple of chances as well.
“We’ll take it as Tynecastle is a tough place to go and it was a tough pitch to play on, but I think taking it back to Easter Road will only benefit us to be honest.
“Big Ross (Laidlaw) came in an did well but Ofir is our number one and it was good to get him back. His save in the first five minutes was world class. It settled his nerves and reassured us at the back that we have a class keeper behind us as well.
“The only area we could improve was set pieces whether that be free kicks or corners.
“The gaffer (Neil Lennon) made us aware before the game that we had to be cool calm and collected but obviously we had to put ourselves about and I think we did that.
“We are looking forward to a week on Wednesday to go again. From a neutral perspective us being in the Championship and Hearts being in the Premiership you can look at that and say they are the better team but today we did more than enough to match them and even when you look at our bench we have Premiership players throughout the team so we are more than confident that we can take them back to Easter Road and win.
“Last season was a similar predicament and we know what happened there and we just need to recreate that.
“We have an important game against Raith Rovers on the weekend before that though and Falkirk have done us a favour against Dundee United so there is more of an incentive to win that game and go nine points clear.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
