Hibs blew the chance to close the gap on Rangers and Celtic after only managing a 1-1 draw with Hearts at Easter Road. The old firm had earlier shared the points at Celtic park, a result which kept Rangers four points clear at the top of the SPL.
Hibs went into this match hoping to erase recent memories of their defeat to Rangers and halt Hearts run of three victories in a row.
The derby got of to a slow start but Hibs looked the more likely to open the scoring, a combination of poor final balls and decent defending kept Hibs out.
Right on the stroke of halftime and against the run of play Hearts teenage striker Gordon Smith opened the scoring with a well taken volley. This certainly gave the Hearts fans plenty to sing about during the interval however early in the second half they were finally silenced.
Riordan made space down the left to cross for Stokes to make it seven goals in five matches.
Hibs were beginning to get a grip of the match now but all that changed when both teams were reduced to 10 men. Trading headers without a ball in sight meant the referee had no chance but to deliver a red card to both players.
The game now became very scappy and both teams had chances to win, but to be honest a draw was probably a fair result.
Dundee Utd next where a win for Hibs will see them open up a big gap on fouth place Utd. It will be a hard match as Utd will be looking to improve on recent results.
Happy New Year
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
Agreed. Going for 3rd place is realistic at the moment and a win against a Dundee Utd team going through a bad spell at the moment would be a giant step in that direction.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't think that 2nd place in the league is beyond Hibs, and the next few weeks will give an indication of that.
In the meantime, there is Scottish Cup action this weekend when Junior Club Irvine Meadow visit Easter Road to be put to the sword. A good opportunity for Nishy to score his first hat-trick for Hibs me thinks ??!!