New Years Day Derby...

Hibernian arrived at Tynecastle for the first Edinburgh Derby to be held on New Years Day in 13 years. Hearts were keen to continue their unbeaten run by overcoming their City rivals currently languishing at the wrong end of the table.


Note: No photos for this post I’m afraid. It wasn’t until I was on my way to the ground that I remembered I’d left my phone charging at my sister’s house. I was slightly gutted as I’d hoped to get more photos than normal depicting scenes from before, during and after the match, but time was of the essence which ruled out turning around and retrieving my phone. I’ll be sure not to make the same mistake next Saturday when I visit Sunderland’s Stadium of Light for their FA Cup tie against Notts County.

The match kicked off at 12:30pm on New Years Day. This ensured that hangovers were in abundance and at first the resulting atmosphere outside the ground was slightly more subdued than normal for these occasions. An excess of booze from the night before coupled with an inability to spend a few hours in a pub prior to kick off had perhaps taken its toll on the football fans of Edinburgh.

I’d had a rather subdued Hogmanay in comparison to years gone by. My wife was working which meant I was planning on spending the evening at home with our toddler, a last minute change of plan saw us going to stay with friends which allowed us to put the kids to bed and enjoy a few drinks, but it was essentially a sensible night in. Aware that I’d be woken up at about 7am by a 2 year old and with one eye on the main event that was the Edinburgh derby I was happy enough to act like the responsible husband and father I’m supposed to be.

After arriving at the stadium, my Dad and made our way to our seats, stopping to wish a happy new year to a few familiar faces. The Roseburn Stand housing the away fans was already fairly full (the game was sold in both the home areas and the away allocation) and featured a vast array of Hibs flags which contrasted nicely with the flags being flown in the adjacent Wheatfield Stand. Whilst I've never been to an Old Firm Derby I always feel that the Edinburgh derby, unlike its Glasgow counterpart, contains the right amount of atmosphere and animosity (which every good derby should have) without crossing the line into sick and bitter hatred. Sure, there are a minority of (normally young) people who attempt to bring a sectarian element into the equation through their choice of songs or the waving of British or Irish flags (a national flag of course not being sectarian in itself, but more so in terms of the context in which it's used). The atmosphere on New Years Day was breathtaking and was a fabulous advertisement for the SPL. Both sets of fans supported their teams with gusto and for the most part they gave wonderful accounts of themselves.

As is the norm with these encounters, the game started at a cracking pace. After a mere 8 minutes of the first half the Hearts faithful were screaming for the head of their old adversary Ian Murray. Murray went into a 50/50 aerial challenge with Ian Black and whilst Murray appeared to have his eye on the ball (albeit he must have known of Black's whereabouts) he lead with a forearm which in turn smashed into the face of Black, knocking him out cold for a few seconds. Both players could consider themselves lucky to stay on the pitch, albeit for entirely different reasons. Black appeared to come to his senses allowing the Hearts bench to deem any substitution unnecessary, whilst the referee ignored the screams of the Hearts fans and decided to issue Murray with a caution as supposed to a red card. Lucky boy.

After the initial chaos, the game settled down, Hearts enjoyed the majority of possession whilst Hibs appeared unusually defensive. Hearts were looking to Kyle, Skacel and Templeton to orchestrate proceedings whilst Hibs hoped that Liam Miller would be able to gain a footing in midfield and that Derek Riordan may be able to provide them with a flash of inspiration. From a Hearts point of view the first half was fairly disappointing, Templeton was well shackled by Thicot and made little impact, Ian Black suitably recovered enough from his collision with Murray to be at the centre of everything Hearts did well. Skacel threatened the Hibs goal but was unable to make any significant breakthrough.

Half-time duly arrived and a couple of former Jambos were welcomed onto the pitch, with Walter ‘Zico’ Kidd and Wayne Foster walking out to have a chat with Scott Wilson. Foster’s presence in particular allowed the Hearts support to indulge in a spot of Hibs-baiting retro style.

During the second half, Hearts again enjoyed a lot of possession but looked as if they could do everything but score. Hibs began to grow in confidence and the fresh legs of Colin Nish up front seemed to greatly bolster their attack. The men in green enjoyed a decent 15 minute spell around the middle of the second half where they delivered some promising moves, culminating in a shot from Nish which was just inches wide of Jamie Macdonald’s far post.

As the game drew to a close Hearts were once again in the ascendancy. Kyle, Elliot and Skacel all went close before Gary Glen missed a glorious opportunity to score after missing a simple tap in. Having seen the replay, it wasn’t quite as unforgivable as Chris Iwelumo miss for Scotland, but it wasn’t far off being a howler of equal proportion.

Minutes after Glen’s miss, the young Lithuanian Arvydas Novikovas (a replacement for David Templeton) knocked the ball past Stephen Thicot and Ian Murray to reach the by-line. An Inch perfect cross was then met by the head of Kevin Kyle who, from a tight angle, sent the ball into the Hibs net and, at the same time, the majority of Tynecastle into absolute delirium. The celebrations which ensued were wild and it was good to see the Hearts under 19s and injured players (including Marian Kello) participating with seemingly as much passion as the fans.

The game was then played out to a close and the referee’s final whistle was met with enormous cheers by the Jambo faithful. It hadn’t been a spectacular performance and the blood and thunder nature of the match had left little room for silky football, but Hearts had beaten Hibs in the New Year derby and that for most people was all that mattered.