Hearts are through to the Scottish Cup final after a 2-1 victory over Hibs at Hampden.
All photos Ian Jacobs
Shaun Maloney made five changes to the side beaten at Tynecastle last weekend, the most surprising of which was the introduction of James Scott in place of Elias Melkerson.
Paul MgGinn, Ryan Porteous, Liam Henderson and Lewis Stevenson were the other changes replacing Rocky, Josh Doig, Chris Mueller and Drey Wright.
Robbie Neilson unsurprisingly went with the same starting XI.
On-loan Everton striker opened the scoring after a mistake by Paul McGinn the Stephen Kingsley added a second with a super strike in the 21st minute.
It looked like another Hampden nightmare for Hibs but they pulled one back immediately from Chris Cadden after great work from Lewis Henderson.
Last week’s hero Andy Halliday, who shrugged off a knock to start, limped off in the 39th minute and was replaced by Aaron McEneff.
Just before the break Liam Boyce missed a great chance when he found himself one on one with Matt Macey but his shot went wide.
Craig Halkett left the field in a stretcher and was
In the 54th minute Craig Gordon produced a wonder save from Ryan Porteous’s header then 10-minutes later Hibs hopes of an equaliser reduced when Joe Newell was shown a second yellow card after an idiotic challenge on Peter Haring.
Hearts saw out the game and took the bragging rights.
After the final whistle Neilson told BBC Sportsound: “Credit to our players for managing to get through it, and credit to Hibs for battling really well, came back from two goals down, threatened even with 10 men, but that’s a derby. Thankfully we came out on top.
“I played with Craig Gordon 20 years ago and he’s matured unbelievable. He’s now a leader of the group, He should be in the running for player of the year.
“We’re guaranteed group stage football in Europe. It gives us money to invest. We won’t go crazy, but taking that next step to allow us to do well in Europe but transition us into getting into Europe the year after and the year after and trying to grow this club.”
“I’m extremely disappointed, gutted really for the players and the support.
“I think the performance was brilliant really, even with going 2-0, with the way we were playing at times it was really good.
“With 10 men, we still looked like the team that looked most likely to score, I’m incredibly proud but disappointed the performance didn’t match the result. It’s by far the best performance since I’ve been here.
“We created more than enough in terms of dangerous opportunities, but we didn’t defend the set-play or the counter-attack, I was really with how we played in that attacking area.
“We have to get to a point where we’re more clinical and until we get there will are going to feel more hurt than we are just now.
“What I need to instil over the next four or five games, months, seasons – whatever it may be – is a level of performance, desire and physicality that we showed today.
“We need to instil that culture again and make sure we never feel like this again, particularly next season.”
Hibs: Macey, McGinn, Porteous, Hanlon, Cadden, Doyle-Hayes, Newell, Stevenson, Clarke, Henderson, Scott. Substitutes: Dabrowski, Mitchell, Allan, Melkersen, Hauge, Mueller, Delferriere, Jasper, Campbell Rocky
Hearts: Gordon, Kingsley, Haring, Boyce, Atkinson, Halliday, Cochrane, McKay, Halkett, Simms, Sibbick. Subs Stewart, McEneff, Woodburn, Mackay-Steven, Devlin, Moore, Ginnelly.
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.
