A late strike from Lawrence Shankland ensured Hearts bagged the Edinburgh derby bragging rights, after a 1-0 win at Easter Road.
Steven Naismith made three changes for the trip to Leith, Stephen Kingsley, Calem Nieuwenhof and Alan Forrest all came into the side with Craig Halkett, Barrie McKay and Yutaro Oda dropping to the bench.
As is often the case in the derby, it was a frantic start and after just 13 minutes, there had been drama at both ends.
On 5 minutes, Alex Cochrane’s long-throw from the left was adjudged to have been handled by Rocky Bushiri. After a VAR review, referee John Beaton pointed to the spot. Lawrence Shankland stepped up and although he sent David Marshall the wrong way, his effort came back off the foot of the post.
Shankland was involved again on ten minutes. He slipped in Forrest down the left channel and after cutting inside, his goal-bound effort was blocked by a last-ditch intervention from Will Fish.
The big moments kept on arriving in the early stages, as after 13 minutes, Hibs were awarded a penalty of their own.
Dylan Vente’s shot was blocked by the outstretched arm of Kye Rowles, Martin Boyle stepped up from 12-yards, but was denied expertly by Zander Clark, who dived to his right and got a strong hand to keep the scores level.
The game did eventually settle down after that early drama, however there weren’t too many clear-cut chances following the spot-kicks, Jair Tavares was looking dangerous down the left for the home side and his effort shortly before the interval may have called Clark into action, had it not been deflected away from goal by a maroon jersey.
Half-time: Hibernian 0-0 Hearts
Barrie McKay was introduced at the break for the Jambos, meanwhile, there was an early blow for Hibs when Josh Campbell left the field of play on a stretcher after a collision with Dylan Levitt in the centre circle.
The game continued to be scrappy with both sides waiting on that one moment of quality that could lead to the winning goal.
Kenneth Vargas was next to be introduced for the men in maroon and he almost fired home the opener when being presented with the ball on the edge of the Hibs box, but his effort was always rising and didn’t trouble Marshall.
Despite the penalty save, Clark will have had far busier nights between the sticks, however he did come up big on two separate occasions as the clock ticked past the 70-minute mark.
Firstly, denying Dylan Vente’s side foot effort at the back post before beating away substitute Elie Youan’s vicious drive from the edge of the box.
Up the other end, Shankland was still a danger. After being slipped through by Barrie McKay, he ran at Rocky Bushiri, but his low shot was saved by David Marshall.
The Hearts number nine wasn’t to be denied however and as the game entered five minutes of stoppage time, he made his mark.
A long ball down the right came off the back of Rocky Bushiri and fell into the path of Shankland, he brought the ball under control before shifting the ball onto his weaker left foot and curling a delightful finish into the top corner, sparking pandemonium in the away end.
There was just about enough time for the game to restart before the final whistle sounded on another memorable Edinburgh derby victory for the Jambos.
Hibernian: Marshall, Miller, Fish, Levitt (Jeggo, 84), Vente (Doidge, 89), Boyle, Newell ©, Obita, Tavares, Campbell (Youan, 53), Bushiri
Subs: Wollacott, Hanlon, Youan, Jeggo, Stevenson, Doidge, Molotnikov, Whittaker, Landers
Hearts: Clark, Kent, Kingsley, Baningime, Nieuwenhof, Shankland, Atkinson, Rowles, Forrest (Vargas, 60), Cochrane, Denholm (McKay, 46)
Subs: Gordon, Halkett, Haring, Oda, McKay, Sibbick, Tagawa, Lowry, Vargas
