Thursday 3 January 2013

Heart of Midlothian 0 v Hibernian 0 - SPL

Thursday 3rd January 2013,
Scottish Premier League
Tynecastle Stadium
Heart of Midlothian 0
Hibernian 0
Admission - Season Ticket, Programme £3,
Attendance 17,062
Hearts:
1 MacDonald, 5 Barr, 26 Zaliukas, 29 McHattie, 7 Stevenson,
10 Taouil, 11 Driver (14 Walker - 84 mins),
19 McGowan, 8 Robinson (15 Holt - 47 mins ), 9 Sutton,
18 Novikovas (33 Paterson - 68 mins ).
Unused Subs:
Enckelman, Mullen, Prychynenko, Smith
Hibs:
1 Williams, 2 Clancy, 3 McGivernm 4 Hanlon, 6 McPake,
7 Deegan, 8 Claros, 11 Cairney (14 Wotherspoon - 55 mins ),
20 Taiwo (16 Stevenson - 73 mins ), 9 Griffiths, 10 Doyle.
Unused Subs:
Murdoch,  Maybury, Donaldson, Handling, Caldwell
I've only got myself to blame for getting roped into this.
A quick dash up the A1 after I finished work, saw us arrive in Broomhouse Road, Sighthill, at just after 7pm.
Having abandoned the car there, we jumped onto a bus and were on the Gorgie Road in plenty of time for kick off.
Despite heading in from the west of Edinburgh, there were still a few people displaying Hibs colours on the Lothian Buses number 3 service. what on earth is happening to this city!?
The last SPL game I attended was poor and things don't seem to have improved any since then.
Even though Rangers are now out of the equation, for a while at least, it would appear that the full extent of the aspirations of these two capital city clubs, don't extend much further than local bragging rights.
And if Hearts manager John McGlynn, thinks that entails containing the opposition, in a derby game, at home, instead of actually trying to beat them, then maybe Hearts need to be looking for their 82nd managerial change in the last three seasons (or a similar, slightly more accurate and genuine, but still just as unfathomable total).
If 'struggling' Hearts had won against 'high flying' Hibs tonight, they would've been three points behind their neighbours in the SPL, with a game in hand.
The maths aren't exactly rocket science.
To be frank, the second half of the season, after the winter break finishes, looks like being fairly grim few months for the Tynecastle faithful.
Pretty much the same as the first half of it already has been then.
The referee Willie Collum, was poor tonight.
But at least he wasn't biased and was equally rubbish towards both teams.
James McPake blatantly chopped down Scott Robinson in the Hibs penalty area as Scott Driver blazed the ball narrowly wide of the goal, but the hapless official either turned a blind eye, or missed it.
Shortly afterwards he also missed, or overlooked to balance things out, a crude challenge by Ryan Stevenson on McPake, that warranted a booking at the very least.
Stevenson was lucky to have got away with that one, which we had a clear panoramic view of, as it happened straight in line with our seats, up near the back of the Gorgie Road Stand.
In the second half, Ryan Stevenson missed from 3 feet out, right in front of the away fans, when a rebound from Ben Williams save, ricocheted off of him and went narrowly wide of the left hand upright.
Eoin Doyle blazed an effort over Jamie Macdonald's crossbar ... and in stoppage time, John Sutton headed a Jamie Walker corner against the cross bar and Darren Barr put the ball over from the rebound.
And that was that.
Tonight, a Hibs fan was ejected from the ground, for apparently spitting on a ball boy.
As he was being led away, he was applauded by other visiting supporters in his vicinity.
Hmm, the rest of the world keeps evolving, but you can always rely on Hibs supporters to uphold and maintain their traditional 'impeccable' standards.
Right the deal was, I drove here, against my better judgement, so my very own South Yorkshire based chauffeur, is driving back as far as Doncaster, after a post match watering stop in Sighthill.
I hope my snoring in the passenger seat is so loud, that keeps my sidekick awake and we get back to civilisation in one piece.
Personally, I'd take the A68 all the way back to Darlington, to make it more challenging and interesting pal, but it's neither my decision to make nor journey to take.
Goodnight y'all.
Don't wait up!