Edinburgh showpiece can rival any Old Firm derby

Published on Monday 20 October 2008 10:13

IT'S hard to know who will be most disappointed with the result yesterday – but one thing that I do know is that the first Edinburgh derby of the season was an absolute cracker.

I was doing the co-commentary for Setanta and you always hope that you get a game that is full of incident and gives you a lot to discuss when you are on air.

And it was a typical Edinburgh derby. There was barely a minute to catch your breath.

Whether it was a good game simply because of the quality of football on show or not is debatable because there were a lot of misplaced passes and a lot of people falling over one another, but it was certainly entertaining.

There have been some brilliant games between Hearts and Hibs over the last few seasons and yesterday's was no different.

I've been living up here for ten years now and in that time I have seen some really great Edinburgh derbies and I don't think the scoreline really reflects just how open and entertaining this match was.

We've been crying out for a game like that to promote Scottish football outwith the Old Firm, something exciting and end-to-end, and for me yesterday's game was it.

My gut feeling at the end of the game was that it was a missed opportunity for Hearts because of the amount of possession and the freedom they had in the middle of the park – not to mention the space.

They had a threat down the left, they had a threat down the right and I thought that they shaded it.

Having said that, Hibs had a lot of clear-cut chances and they were denied a stonewall penalty that would undoubtedly have changed the course of the game.

For me, there was absolutely no doubt about it, but for some reason the referee decided not to give it even though he had a very good view. He is actually a referee that I really quite like. I think that he is one of the more respected referees in this country because of his attitude, he talks to players rather than lecture them and he tries to let the game flow.

You always hope that games of this magnitude are not going to be affected by controversial decisions and unfortunately, this one was, but I'm not sure what went wrong.

There's no doubt that some decisions are harder to get right than others – and that one wasn't. It was a very easy decision to point to the spot, Eddie Smith was in a good position and he had a good view.

I don't know what he thought had happened, did he think that he dived? If he did why didn't he book him? Did he think he had slipped over? We will never know, but I think that you can always tell from players' reactions as to whether it is a penalty or not. Derek's reaction told me that he had been fouled, obviously referees can't go on a supposition but I am surprised that he got it wrong because it was a pretty easy decision to make.

And whether we like it or not, that decision changed the course of the game because you have to assume that Hibs would have scored from it and gone two goals ahead.

That doesn't mean that they would have gone on to win the game, but it would have made them very strong favourites and that is probably the one sour taste the game left in your mouth.

Hibs went with three up front again, as they did against Aberdeen a fortnight ago but the two players who I have the most sympathy with were Ian Murray and Steven Thicot because the formations meant that for a large chunk of the game they were playing against a five-man Hearts midfield.

They were left to deal with guys like Michael Stewart, Christos Karipidis and Bruno Aguiar and while I know that Larry Kingston and Andrew Driver were playing wider, it really was two against five at some stages.

I think both managers set up their sides knowing that if their tactics were right then they would boss the game – but they also knew that if it went wrong they were in danger of being passed off the park. And as it turned out, both sides did have spells where they completely dominated.

It was tough for the two Hibs boys because they were completely outnumbered at times and they had to work very hard. They were very, very honest and stuck to their task well though and Mixu will have been delighted with their contribution to the game.

Over the balance of the whole match though, I thought that Hearts were probably the better team, they had good triangles in the middle of the park and they passed the ball about well.

It might have been his first game back, but Aguiar looked like he had never been away, he was amazing. I thought that he played a really controlled game. He got the man-of-the-match bubbly because I thought that he was outstanding. He is a class player, a class act, and Csaba Laszlo will feel like he has brought in a new signing.

He has been out for a long time but they say that class players never lose it and I think that he proved that because he shone out like a beacon.

To be honest though, I was impressed by the fitness of all three players in that Hearts side who have hardly kicked a ball over the last few months.

Driver was also tremendous, he put in a really good shift and it gave Hearts something extra because he could offer them a different outlet and drive forward at players. Christian Nade also did well, although he's probably not firing on all cylinders yet, but he plugged away and gave them an added threat.

Yet again there are people questioning his fitness but he lasted almost the entire 90 minutes and I think that he looked sharper than he has done for a long time and he looked dangerous at times.

Considering how long they have been on the sidelines, I thought these three guys played a massive part in the match and that's the kind of commitment and effort that Laszlo will be looking for from his players this season.