Andrew Driver last night admitted he was worried about starting against Hibs in yesterday's derby - but was elated to have done so, scored and played the 90 minutes.

The Tynecastle winger handed credit to manager Jim Jefferies who had convinced the 22-year-old that he had the ability and fitness to make it an afternoon to forget for capital rivals Hibs.

And so it proved to be the case with Andrew, like everyone in maroon, producing a memorable performance in defeating the Easter Road side 2-1.

"Last time with the semi-final [against St Mirren] my knee did not react very well to 90 minutes so all week the physio has been trying to keep it under control and get me to do less" Andrew said.

"Adrenalin takes over during the game and you don't feel the effects. When you get on the pitch you don't really think about it. It feels ok now, so touchwood it will be ok for next week.

"That was a manager trying to get the best out of players. If you go into a game thinking negative - you know, the amount of times I went to him this week and said 'I am not sure I am ready' and the amount of times he's turned it around and I've felt like a bit of an a**e.

"In the end he was right. We are all going home happy."

Andrew revealed that Jim was waiting for him at full time.

The winger continued, "He said, 'Told ya'! He was very happy that we showed an unbelievable effort. The effort at the start o f the game showed at the end. We had players who have not played for a while, who risked injury, who put in a brilliant performance. Everyone is delighted.

"If you don't go the extra yard with the new management, derby game or other game, you will know about it. I don't think the management were happy last week and they have told us about that during the week.

"After last week we started poorly so there was no chance we would do that today. If we had there would have been a rocket up a few bums."

One frustration for Andrew was that Hearts did not convert more of the dozen or so serious chances they created.

Having said all that, the England U21 international knew there was never a doubt about the result, even if tired legs played their part in the dying embers of the contest.

"We make it hard for ourselves," Andrew admitted. "We are starting to get a bit more of the mentality in that we don't always finish teams off.

"It's been like that for a couple of years and we don't often win more than BY one goal. If me or Gaz [Glen] put one of those chances away you are cruising. It is typical of us to make it hard for ourselves.

"Even though we let the goal in today there was no way we would have let them back today, because we wanted it that much. We might have tired a bit but we put that much into the first hour we were not going to let it slip."

On Hearts.TV today - Catch post-match reaction from JJ and Andrew Driver and watch all the action from Tynecastle with comprehensive match highlights of the derby win!