Duffy says plenty of life left in Hibs

And despite Kevin Kyle's late winner leaving everyone in green and white devastated, Duffy believes the performance in Gorgie can lead to a far more rewarding 2011 for the Easter Road outfit, even if the new year didn't get off to the happiest of starts.

Duffy believed he and his team-mates had held on for a precious point in their bid to haul themselves away from the foot of the SPL table, only for Kyle to strike with a towering header, claiming his tenth goal of the season, with just four minutes remaining.

It was a gut-wrenching moment for Colin Calderwood's side, the 3000-plus Hibs fans watching from the Roseburn Stand at the opposite end of the ground and for thousands more who had tuned in to view the match live on television.

Given Hearts enjoyed the upper hand for much of the 90 minutes, Duffy admitted a draw was possibly as much as Hibs might have hoped for but, he declared, even in defeat there had been continuing signs of improvement by a side sitting tenth and just five points ahead of basement outfit Hamilton.

Duffy, who started his first match for Hibs having finally recovered from a broken foot sustained in a freak training ground accident some four months previously, said: "I thought it was a bit harsh on us, I felt we had maybe done enough and worked hard enough to earn a point.

"But it wasn't to be and we just have to take it on the chin and look forward. However, I felt there was a definite improvement from the first half against Dundee United just a few days earlier when we were really disappointing.

"We did well in the second half of that game, dominated and created a lot of chances but it was always going to be tough at Tynecastle with Hearts flying and full of confidence."

Such was the disparity between the Capital's big two - Hearts going into the first New Year's Day derby in 13 years 20 points ahead of their rivals - many had been predicting a walkover for Jim Jefferies' players as Hibs' chances were all but written off.

However, Duffy said: "It was good motivation for us, we wanted to go there and prove people wrong, that it wasn't just going to be a matter of how many for them. We wanted to do ourselves proud and I think we did that for the 86 minutes or whatever. Up until then, I think we had done all right. We knew Hearts would get chances because it was on their patch and they are going very well but I felt we dealt with them well and limited them to long-range shots especially in the first half. I don't remember them causing us too many problems.

"We'd been guilty of giving away the first goal all too often recently, and sometimes two, but, while Hearts had most of the pressure, we produced a much-improved defensive display and looked pretty rock solid.

"But it's a defeat which left us all devastated and the changing room feeling like a morgue. However, we have to take the positives, it was a more resilient display and one we need to keep producing game after game."

Although Calderwood afterwards admitted his side had been "living for one or two breaks", former Rangers, Falkirk, Hull, Swansea and Bristol Rovers forward Duffy claimed Hibs did have a few half-chances with which they might have snatched what many would have seen as a shock win.

Duffy, who'd tested Hearts goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald with a shot on the turn, said: "If we were going to score it would probably have been on the break. As long as it was 0-0 we had a good chance of catching them.

"Francis Dickoh had one on the stretch at the back post and Colin Nish had a chance in which he did everything right only to see the ball go a couple of inches wide. He was a bit unlucky and it would have been interesting to see how the game might have turned out had that one gone in late in the match."

As it was, Kyle's goal fired Hearts a mammoth 23 points ahead of Hibs, a fact which Duffy claimed he and his team-mates have to ignore. He said: "I suppose it's their prerogative to brag about it but as far as we are concerned we are not interested, we have to look to ourselves"

While he had predicted he wouldn't last the entire match as he had only enjoyed 11 minutes of first-team action all season, Duffy managed all but the final quarter-of-an-hour, a fact which surprised him.

He added: "The manager asked me at half-time how I felt and I said 'okay,' that I'd give him a shout when I thought my legs had done as much as they could. I'd no idea how long it was so I was pleasantly surprised to find I'd lasted so long.

"I enjoyed it although that late goal took the shine off things. I'd played at Tynecastle before but it's an entirely different experience on derby day.

"I need more games and I still feel I am a number of weeks away from full fitness. Nevertheless, it was a good competitive 75 minutes for me, it will stand me in good stead and hopefully I can build on it."

Being replaced by David Wotherspoon for the closing minutes left Duffy watching on anxiously from the away dugout, an experience he admits he didn't particularly relish.

He said: "It wasn't so much nerves as excitement, we were all desperate to hang on and come away with a point. I think every passing minute felt like five."Had we managed to hang on it would have been a great boost for us but, as I have said, we have to look to our performance and look to repeat that sort of display as often as possible."