Players who have struggled in the last couple of weeks upped their game, while others who have been injury absentees made telling returns and helped to produce a more cohesive display. However, the outcome leaves Hearts in the doldrums and looking for a way to end their current losing streak, which amounts to six games, with two goals scored and 14 conceded. There may be a new man at the helm but this breathless and absorbing match showed that it will not be easy to stop the rot.

There had been some chatter ahead of this fixture suggesting it could be billed as another El Sackio given recent results posted by both sides and what was resting on the outcome. More than simple derby-day bragging rights, one side had sights set on pushing to regain third spot in the cinch Premiership, while the other harboured their own European ambitions but realised that they first have to nail down a place in the top six.

As it was, the managerial change many suspected may come as a consequence of this tussle actually preceded it as the Hearts board dispensed with Robbie Neilson’s services last weekend and elevated Steven Naismith to the first-team technical area in the hope that the side would benefit from the new manager bounce. With less than a week to shape the side in his image, there was hope but less expectation than might be usually there of an outfit on a nine-game unbeaten run in this head-to-head.

Kevin Nisbet's volley midway through the second half gave Hibs a 1-0 victory over Hearts at Easter Road.

The pressure was unquestionably on the hosts, though, as they hunted down their first derby win at Easter Road since 2018, hoping it would edge them closer to a top six invitation for the post-split run-in. Considering results elsewhere, defeat would have seen the Leith side slip into the bottom half of the league table, but instead they remain one point ahead of Livingston and a point behind St Mirren with one round of games left before the Premiership separates into two sections.

They will now go into next week’s match against St Johnstone with the kind of extra swagger a derby win bestows on players, especially players who have not only been denied for so long but often tortured by the way those games have played out. Hibs have enjoyed periods of superiority during several of those meetings but have been unable to convert. They have sometimes been out-played and out-fought and out-finished as key moments turned things in Hearts’ favour. Those memories often gave the Gorgie side the psychological edge and caused Hibs to doubt themselves – but not on Saturday.

It was Hearts who looked the nerviest, and was Hearts who struggled to move the ball quickly enough or positively enough to penetrate a defence that had been shored up by the return of Paul Hanlon and Lewis Stevenson and was properly protected by James Jeggo, who was back to his best, Jake Doyle-Hayes and the superb Joe Newell, who was a man on a mission after his recent injury lay-off and the experience of too many capital disappointments.

But those who have watched enough of these capital showdowns know that it only takes a minute for inspiration or misfortune to strike and render a period of domination moot with one well-delivered set-piece or a menacing counter-attack. And, there were plenty of counter-attacks in this one as the finely-balanced game took its time to deliver a winning goal.

Steven Naismith suffered defeat in his first match in charge of Hearts.

Hearts are the club who tend to exude that inner belief but against a Hibs side that seemed to recognise that they had an opportunity to kick their rivals while they were down, they looked weaker, mentally, but also physically as their rivals won the individual battles and then linked up more effectively. The better team in the opening half an hour, Hibs couldn’t translate that into a lead and when Zander Clark stuck out his leg to pull off an instinctive stop from Elie Youan, there will have been Hibs fans pondering if this was going to be another one of those days. Especially as Hearts, who looked tentative and insipid and had been unsettled further by the early loss of the experienced Michael Smith, then saw out the first half on the front foot.

Yet it was a day when too many of the men in green and white seemed resolute but also robust in thought and deed. Hearts could not get a grip of the midfield, where Newell excelled, and with Kevin Nisbet a willing runner in determined mood ahead of them, they pinned Hearts in for prolonged periods. After Nisbet had opened the scoring in the 67th minute, when Hanlon played a Doyle-Hayes cross back across goal for the Scotland striker to finish, the home side had another couple of opportunities to quickly kill the game off but both Nisbet and Youan passed them up.

That should have made for an edgier run-in but after substitute Steven Humphrys had a shot in the 73rd minute, there was little of note from the visitors. Missing was the cavalry charge that tends to throw up one or two opportunities and even when a free-kick was won on the edge of Hearts area, the threat usually posed by Stephen KIngsley seemed diluted. Like so much of their play, the shot lacked real conviction or precision and bounced back off a wall that refused to present him with a way through.

As Hibs finally ended their derby streak without a win, that moment proved a perfect metaphor for the entire match.

How tortured Hibs players got revenge on insipid Hearts - man on a mission, no edgy end, troubled Jambos