Steven Naismith explains Hearts' Alex Lowry substitution after Hibs gather momentum following Rangers' loanee's exit

Hearts boss Steven Naismith said it was obvious why he had substituted Alex Lowry despite the Rangers loanee playing such an important role in his side taking a 2-0 in the opening Edinburgh derby of the season.

Steven Naismith issues instructions during Hearts' 2-2 draw with Hibs at Tynecastle.

Along with Alan Forrest, the 20-year-old playmaker was a creative force for the home side as they took command of the head-to-head and applied pressure to Nick Montgomery’s men throughout a commanding first 45 minutes and after Forrest opened the scoring with a stunning long-range strike, Lowry then showed a turn of pace and some guile to cut inside and fire a shot that the Hibs striker Christian Doidge deflected past David Marshall.

But, with Hearts on top, Naimsith swapped out the attacker for Beni Baningime in the 62nd minute. That allowed Hibs to move off the back foot and within six minutes the teams were level courtesy of two Elie Youan goals in 90 seconds.

“I think anyone who was watching could see he was [tired],” said Naismith of Lowry. “The game was getting a bit more stretched and the decision making… we weren’t keeping the ball when we should be because they were leaving more bodies forward. It gets end to end and you don’t want to lose control of it. But ultimately, it’s a minute and a half of poor decision making and poor defending that cost us.

“Straight after the game you’re going to be disappointed because you put so much into the game. I thought for large parts of it, it was a good performance. We carried a threat, the chances we had were really good and we scored two good goals. The biggest disappointment is that we have given up two goals in the space of a minute and a half. That’s ultimately cost us three points and what would have been a very good performance.”

Naismith added: “I thought [Forrest] was the best player on the park. He and Alex Lowry have had to be patient and they have had to deal with coming on in games. The two of them have done that really well in the last couple of weeks and that’s why they started. I felt that today’s game was well-suited to them – and we were right. So, I was quite pleased with that element of it.”