Gary Mackay: Absurd penalty decision finally sparked us into life

It was a game which looked like it had 0-0 written all over until he made one of the most absurd decisions I've ever witnessed. People are saying John Rankin dived but I think he simply stumbled. But, by giving a penalty, Dougie McDonald kick-started the way that Hearts responded.

Jim Jefferies knew that at that point we were staring at finishing sixth. He was forced to put on Suso Santana for Ryan Stevenson, who had done extremely well in the first half, and it gave us an extra wee positive spark which saw us kick on.

In my eyes, that refereeing decision lifted Hearts to a level I've not seen in a derby for a while. It totally galvanised the side.

There were a lot of positives in terms of performances, with none better than Lee Wallace. David Templeton also did particularly well, while the two full-backs deserve immense credit. Ruben Palazuelos and Eggert Jonsson are two players who don't particularly see full-back as their favoured position, they'd rather be operating in midfield. But because we have a lot of options in that area of the park, they are happy to do a job for the team and that's the sort of attitude that helps you win an Edinburgh derby.

I know myself what it's like because I was asked to play at wing-back under Joe Jordan. You're so desperate to play that you just get on with it.

You've sometimes got to sacrifice your favoured position for the benefit of the team and these guys did it admirably, as did Lee who was absolutely outstanding at centre-back.

The three central midfielders: Larry Kingston, Ian Black and Stevenson, took control of the midfield area and I thought we were the better team throughout.

Another lad who must be congratulated for his contribution is Calum Elliot.

He's been much maligned at times and had terrible injury problems, but he came on and ran his heart out in the last period of the game. In terms of finishing fifth, I think there's a few twists and turns to come.

The main thing is that we've given ourselves something to play for in the two remaining games. Hopefully the lift from this derby victory and the manner in which it was achieved can be carried into Wednesday's game against Dundee United.

As for the fact there was no East Terrace at Easter Road, it was a bit strange looking across the pitch from our vantage point in the press area and seeing blocks of flats.

The guys in those flats could make themselves a few quid by offering corporate hospitality on match days. You lose a bit of the noise because it's an open area but I don't think it detracted from the atmosphere.

It was as good as it always is for a derby, particularly in the away end where a party was breaking out.

Obua celebrates good times

FOR my Ladbrokes charity bet I tipped Hearts to win 2-1, with David Obua scoring first, so I was a tad unlucky with that one.

I would have won 650 for my chosen charity if it had come in but I just had to content myself with the fact David got the winner. We now just need to suss out what his celebration was all about because it showed that he's not used to scoring goals.

He certainly enjoyed it but he didn't know what to do when he started running towards the dugouts and then doubled back on himself to go to the Hearts supporters at the far corner of the ground. We'll need to get Lockey to teach him to kiss the badge or something like that.

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH US

I SPOKE to a few Hearts supporters after the game and they said the way the police ran things, in terms of getting our fans out and away from the ground after the game, was excellent. Maybe we should look at getting the Lothian and Borders Police to look after the Hearts fans at Ibrox and Parkhead in future.