Hibernian 1-1 Hearts

Hibernian restored a semblance of Edinburgh derby pride with a good performance against their city rivals, but failed to find a winning goal.

The home side began the match well, but a dreadful Alan Maybury error allowed Andrew Driver to prod Hearts in front.

Leigh Griffiths rattled the post before nudging the ball past Jamie MacDonald on the stroke of half-time.

The second half brought no further goals, leaving Hearts undefeated in 12 derby clashes.

The match presented Pat Fenlon's side with an opportunity to make amends for the painful 5-1 defeat to Hearts in May's Scottish Cup final.

And Hibs improved markedly on their meek Hampden showing, although there was a dearth of quality on show from both sides.

Hibs, who were brushed aside at Tannadice last weekend, came close to an early breakthrough when David Wotherspoon glanced a header goalwards from a wicked Griffiths free kick, but MacDonald was able to gather.

After a hectic opening 10 minutes, the game hit a lull until Gary Deegan marked his Hibs debut with a crunching late challenge on David Templeton, which earned him a booking.

If that raised the temperature of the match, then James McPake's halting of a flying Templeton did so further, with the Hearts man lucky referee Willie Collum did not notice his retaliatory lunge at the Hibs captain.

From the free-kick, Templeton fired in a powerful shot but Ben Williams dealt with it brilliantly.

But, as the half-hour mark approached, the keeper could do nothing to prevent Driver nicking the ball past him after Maybury's weak header had left him totally exposed.

Driver was gifted the opening goal by a blunder from former Hearts defender Alan Maybury

Hibs could justifiably consider themselves unfortunate to be behind and they so nearly drew level six minutes before the break.

Griffiths powered down the left and into the penalty area before unleashing a venomous drive from an acute angle, beating MacDonald but ricocheting off the near post and away to safety.

The equaliser did come in the final seconds of the half though. Wotherspoon fed the ball through to Griffiths, who was able to get the ball out from under his feet to guide it through the advancing MacDonald's legs.

Williams had looked an assured performer in the Hibs goal, but he completely misjudged the flight of a Templeton corner early in the second period and Ryan McGowan should have done better than to head off target from six yards.

Griffiths continued to cause Hearts problems, but having created space inside the box, somehow dragged the shot wide with the goal gaping.

MacDonald saved a McPake header before a sequence of substitutions took the sting out of the game, with the enforced withdrawal of Griffiths through injury with 15 minutes remaining a significant blow to Hibs' hopes of finding a winner.

They did have one final chance, but substitute Ross Caldwell could not find a way past MacDonald with a close-range header at the back post.

Deegan, one of Hibs' top performers along with Griffiths and McPake, added some much needed grit to the midfield but was lucky to escape a second booking on a couple of occasions.

Hearts were best served by winger Templeton - in the first half - and mature performances again by their two young full-backs Kevin McHattie and Callum Peterson.

The result left the crowd - a disappointingly long way short of capacity - reasonably content as they filed out of Easter Road.

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