No classic on day when tactics shone in Leith

By STUART LOVELL
CREDIT where credit is due. Hearts came out on top in yesterday's Edinburgh derby, but if truth be told, it was not a game of football that will be talked about in weeks or months to come.
I must admit that prior to the game I thought the current form of both teams would be the deciding factor in the result. Hibs had demolished Kilmarnock in the CIS Cup Final only two weeks ago and Hearts' last two performances - losing 0-4 at home to Dundee United and 1-0 away to Aberdeen - suggested they would be up against it, but as is often the case in derbies, the underdog has a habit of pulling off an upset.

The way Hearts set up their team would suggest that a fair bit of homework went into this performance. There can't have been many times over the course of the season when they have played with five across the middle and one up front, but their tactics proved to be a masterstroke as Hibs struggled to provide much service to their more creative players.

It was a surprise to see John Collins alter Hibs' starting XI, particularly one which proved to be so effective at Hampden a fortnight ago - with Merouane Zemmama replacing Ivan Sproule - and the formation changing from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2.

Whether or not Hearts' coaching staff of Korobochka and Frail were expecting Hibs to tinker with their shape is open to debate, but it has to be said the decision for Hearts to flood the midfield was a shrewd move as it enabled them to compete properly for second balls and they never allowed Hibs the time and space to dictate the flow of the game.

After two consecutive defeats it was inevitable that Hearts would try and make themselves more compact. Whenever a team suffers a run of poor results the first thing to do is make yourselves hard to beat.

Zemmama looked like he could be the key player for Hibs, but after a promising start to the match his contribution seemed to diminish. Both he and Scott Brown were given a licence to roam around in the final third of the pitch and on a different day it would've worked a treat. However, it has to be said, Hearts were aware of the danger that both these players could pose and Bruno Aguiar and Julien Brellier made sure neither Zemmama or Brown were given much opportunity to influence the game.

Having spoken to Stephen Frail before the match it was clear he had been hurt by the recent performances of the team, but he gave the impression that Hearts' trip to Germany last week had served as an ideal opportunity to remind the squad of their duty to the club and the supporters. Yesterday's match was a must-win for Hearts, the rest of their season depended on them picking up three points enabling them to reduce the gap on Aberdeen. Without wishing to dampen their celebrations from a hard-earned derby win I still think it's extremely unlikely Hearts will be able to put together a run of results which would see them achieve a top-three finish and UEFA Cup qualification. They have proven that on their day they have the quality to compete with any team in the SPL, but unless they suddenly rediscover some consistency - something which has been seriously lacking in recent months - they're destined to miss out on European football next season, unless of course, they decide to take the Intertoto Cup route.

It was somewhat of a surprise to see Hearts make only three changes to the team which lost 0-4 at home to Dundee United a fortnight ago, particularly when you consider two of them - Ibrahim Tall and Saulius Mikoliunas - were suspended.

Could be it be possible that Hearts are realising the benefit of consistency of selection? That seems unlikely, but with players such as Gordon, Zaliukas, Berra, Aguiar, Brellier and Velicka making up the spine of the team Hearts have shown they might be taking a step in the right direction.

Trophy show was bound to be like a red rag to a bull for Jambos

LIKE many other neutral observers I'm still trying to understand why Hibs decided to parade the CIS Cup trophy around Easter Road Stadium after yesterday's Edinburgh derby.

Aside from the fact it was two we
eks after the match, surely the club must've realised that to publicise this event was seriously tempting fate and at the same time only serving to motivate Hearts in the build-up to a hugely important game. I understand that some of the celebrations on Sunday, March 18 may have got out of hand and that many Hibs punters were unable to attend Easter Road that night, but I'm afraid to say you only get one chance to parade the Cup so enjoy it while you can. Obviously, from Hibs' point of view much of the enjoyment yesterday was lost after such a disappointing result allied to the fact that a large section of Hearts fans decided to stay after the match and gate-crash the party.

I'd imagine that win, lose or draw the Hearts faithful were always likely to make their presence known and you can assume that if the roles were reversed Hibs fans would've done much the same thing at Tynecastle.

Taken from the Scotsman