Hibee History: Gordon's a Rae of sunshine in Leith

Published on Tuesday 20 July 2010 14:05

Hibs 2 - 1 Hearts 10 March 1979

A CONNOISSEUR of good wine might have looked upon this match rather as a bottle of Transylvanian red; one of the rougher vintages with a fairly blood-thirsty bouquet.

"It was a hard match, a real bruiser," opined Eddie Turnbull afterwards, summing up the 90 minutes of non-stop aggression which saw Hibs qualify for the semi-final of the Scottish Cup at the expense of their old rivals, Hearts.

"The derby matches have always been very competitive games and when you add the spice of a Cup-tie then it was always going to be a hard game," admitted Willie Ormond after a match which was graced with precious little in the way of purist skills.

No fewer than 54 fouls were committed in the game and four players were booked: Derek O'Connor and Walter Kidd of Hearts and Gordon Rae and Alan Brazil of Hibs.

Quite obviously a few of the Hearts followers wanted to get on the pitch and disrupt the match (Hibs were leading 2-0 at this point) although only one succeeded in getting on and he was hauled off promptly by five policemen.Hamish Campbell, a photographer positioned behind Jim McArthur's goal and in front of the angry Hearts mob, was wondering after the game if covering the war in Vietnam might not be an easier option.

A spanner, a golf ball and 36 pence in loose change were just some of the items that whizzed past his right ear during the outbreak of trouble.Hearts have not had their troubles to seek this season and sad to report their good name was again besmirched on Saturday by a section of their following.

On the field, what football there was concerned a headed George Stewart goal in 37 minutes, a beautiful second for Hibs scored by Rae and conceived by Ally MacLeod in 55 minutes, while Hearts got one back with a fine O'Connor header in 70 minutes.

The match, as so many are these days, was won and lost in midfield.

Hearts' captain Jim Jefferies pointed to the 23rd minute as the point when the game started to turn away from Hearts. That was when Drew Busby went off.

"To lose Cammy Fraser and then Drew, both of whom had been playing so well for us recently, meant we were just that bit stretched," said Jefferies.