Academy director John Murray today spoke of his satisfaction at seeing young gun Gordon Smith come of age in the cauldron of the Edinburgh derby.

The teenage striker, a summer capture from Livingston, marked his first start for Hearts with a stunning opener at Easter Road yesterday, the 18-year-old smashing a sublime volley past Graeme Smith on the stroke of half-time.

The forward was sacrificed in the second-half following the dismissal of Ruben Palazuelos but John was delighted he showed his class in such a high-profile encounter.

"We are delighted for him - he has worked hard and deserved his chance," said John.

"I've always liked him as a player and when we found out he was out of contract at Livingston we snapped him up right away as he's someone who could go further in the game.

"To go from the U19s to the Reserves is hard and to go from the 19s to the first team is even harder again. It was a baptism of fire for him but he got the goal which won Hearts a point and he'll go down in the history books for that.

"Hopefully it is the first of a lot more goals to come."

Gordon is the latest in a succession of top young stars to sample first-team action for Hearts in recent months, Paul Mulrooney, Scott Robinson, Craig Thomson , David Templeton and Arvydas Novikovas all having featured regularly in Csaba Laszlo's squad since August.

"The big buzz the scouts and the coaches get is when they see the players who have been here for a few years get their chance in the first team," added John.

"It's always good to see young local talent get into the first team. Hearts fans have always been good with young players. Calum Elliot was an exception. He went through a bad spell but he proved last season that he is a good player.

"You just have to be patient with young players as they go up and down but they need time to develop to become men before you can judge them."

On Hearts.TV today, Csaba Laszlo, Gordon Smith and Michael Stewart look back on an entertaining draw against Hibs in Leith.