Hearts and Hibs shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in the Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle.
Steven Naismith made three changes to his Edinburgh derby line-up. Cammy Devlin, Alan Forrest and Scott Fraser all came into the starting XI, as Beni Baningime, Jorge Grant and Kye Rowles dropped out.
As is often the case when an Edinburgh derby comes around, the game saw a frantic start with both sides wrestling for control. After the opening quarter, Hibs had crafted the only clear-cut chance when Rocky Bushiri saw his deflected header go behind.
Alan Forrest’s darting run nearly bore fruit after 26 minutes as his swirling cross from deep nearly went all the way into the net, halted only by the quick feet of David Marshall who recovered well to gather.
Hibs took the lead just moments later as Emiliano Marcondes guided the ball home; Martin Boyle pouncing on a Frankie Kent trip before squaring to the Danish forward who steered his low drive home to put the visitors in front.
With half-time approaching, Hearts found themselves back on level terms. A foul on Kenneth Vargas opened the door for Lawrence Shankland to dispatch a perfect penalty beyond Marshall to send Tynecastle into raptures.
HALF-TIME: HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN 1-1 HIBERNIAN
Hearts emerged sure-footed as the second 45 begun, Alan Forrest firing an early warning shot across Hibs’ bow when his curled effort forced a stop from Marshall.
Hibs came again and Frankie Kent earned applause around Gorgie as he cleared a flicked Marcondes effort off the line to preserve parity.
It was end-to-end stuff at times with both sides battling fiercely, with Hearts missing a great chance thirteen minutes from time after Baningime dispossessed and fed Shankland. The number nine turned the ball over to Vargas, who sliced his effort wide from close range.
It ended all square at Tynecastle, with Celtic the visitors to Gorgie on Sunday.
Hearts: Clark, Kent, Kingsley, Nieuwenhof, Shankland ©, Atkinson, Devlin (Grant 64’), Forrest, Cochrane (Rowles 86’), Fraser, Vargas (Pollock 86’)
Subs: Gordon, Baningime, Grant, Rowles, Sibbick, Pollock, Tait, Tagawa, Lemibikisa
Hibernian: Marshall, Miller, Fish, Vente (Youan 68’), Boyle, Newell ©, Maolida, Hansen (Triantis 80’), Obita, Moriah-Welsh (Levitt 75’), Bushiri
Subs: Wollacott, Hanlon, Levitt, Youan, Mayenda, Stevenson, Le Fondre, Triantis, Tavares
