Club 36/279 – Hibernian

Match: Hibernian v Heart of Midlothian
Date: 01/02/2022
Venue: Easter Road, Edinburgh
Competition: Cinch Premiership
Entry Fee: £35
Travel: £16.90
Miles completed today: 108
Total miles remaining: 38775

The Edinburgh Derby. Hibs and Hearts has been a regular fixture in the Scottish football calendar for almost 147 years and has grown into one of the juiciest and most important.
Two of Scotland’s biggest clubs were due to battle it out in our capital city and I was lucky enough to have a ticket.
It wasn’t easy to procure a match ticket. Using Hibernian’s online ticket system I learned that ‘category A’ games are only sold to those who have a 12 month previous purchase history. I emailed Hibernian about this and was told no can do – however reading their t’s and c’s an eligible Hibernian fan buying a ticket in their name with literally no traceable details back to me is allowed. Go figure?
Category A games are matches against Celtic, Rangers or Hearts. I understand why you’d have this ruling in place for the Glasgow clubs who will sell out their allocation and look for tickets in the home end but how many Hearts fans would buy a ticket to sit amongst their biggest rivals?
Regardless… I’d beaten the system and was in.
I’m realistic enough to know that this fixture would produce the best atmosphere possible inside Easter Road – and even more so if Hibs won the game. Hearts are a very good side in their own right and were confident of spoiling the party.

Preview

Hibernian last 5
WLWDL

Heart of Midlothian Last 5
WWWLW

Odds:
Hibernian 15/8
Draw 21/10
Hearts 8/5

Hearts have been excellent this season and were favourites however Hibernian are a a dangerous and talented team adapting to a new manager and philosophy
I called it before the game (evidence on my twitter feed). My prediction was a 0-0 draw.
I believe that Hibernian’s anthem ‘Sunshine on Leith’ is easily one of the best football songs you’ll find anywhere in the world and I was longing to hear this in full flow but that was only going to happen with a victory so I’ll admit to being off the fence for this one.

The Ground

Only a 20 minute walk from Edinburgh Waverley, Easter Road is an extremely accessible ground in a popular part of the city.
On approach, I was able to hear faint singing from the surrounding streets before I was even able to see the stadium lights. I saw Hearts fans on one side of the road in numbers singing songs and Hibernian fans on the other doing the same and a hefty police presence in the middle.
Don’t get me wrong, this was trouble free and all in good spirits but the atmosphere was bubbling before I even stepped foot into the ground and I began to understand and feel the passion that surrounds this fixture.
Vaccine passport checks are in place in line with the law and the steward studied mine vigorously as if I had something to hide but it’s a quick process and I was in.
The noise Easter Road generates on derby day is nothing short of spectacular. Liam from Retro Video Club (a local band) gave us an acoustic rendition of ‘Hibs Heroes’ of which the home fans joined in and the roar from both sets of supporters as the teams took to the field was certainly a highlight of my groundhopping adventures so far.
Hearts fans are given a full stand on derby day which means they can be easily heard when singing themselves. This provokes the Hibernian fans to sing a song a little louder to drown them out and this back and forward chanting leaves you a thunderous atmosphere that lasts for a full 90 minutes.
It’s fair to say I was in awe of the occasion – a magnificent experience.

The Match

As Edinburgh derbies usually are, this was a feisty encounter. Three bookings in the first seventeen minutes will testify to this.
A beautiful yet poignant moment occurred in the 13th minute as both sets of fans rose to their feet in a minutes applause in memory of young Devin Gordon – a Hearts supported who lost his life aged only 13.
As I looked around the crowd to find them all in unison I noticed that the referee had stopped the match to allow the players to join in with the applause. There’s something powerful about seeing rivalry being set aside for something more important.
Hibernian looked the better team in the first half with a couple of ‘nearly’ moments but the biggest talking point was the decision not to award Hearts a penalty as Lewis Stevenson barged into Ellis Simms in the box. At the time I wasn’t sure and if I was the referee I wouldn’t have given it either but having later seen a replay I believe this should’ve been given and Hibs really got away with one. Goalless at the break.
The second half was much more scrappy but it was Hearts’ turn to dominate. Hibs at times really had to weather the storm but a mixture of committed defending and solid goalkeeping from debutant Kevin Dabrowski who handled the occasion like an experienced pro beyond his years kept the scores level.
The biggest chance of the match fell to Josh Campbell with only a few minutes to go as he found himself with plenty of space inside the box to tee up a volley but whilst his effort beat Craig Gordon, Toby Sibbick was expertly positioned to clear the ball off the line and deny Hibs the win
No goals unfortunately nor too much goalmouth action, but a very loud and passionate emotional rollercoaster of a goalless encounter.

Full time: Hibernian 0-0 Heart of Midlothian

MOTM

My pick this time round is Hibs defender Ryan Porteous. Whenever Hibs looked to be in a spot of trouble (which was frequent during the second half) Ryan was there, He won every tackle, every header and if he couldn’t get close enough to do either – he threw himself in front of the ball. He initiated attacks by driving out of defence with the ball and he was a joy to watch. He may not be the Hibs captain but for me it was a captain’s performance.
A massive kudos to Kevin Dabrowski too. The 23 year old only found out on the morning of the game that he’d make his long awaited Hibernian debut and to take such a match in his stride whilst performing to the levels he did will do his chances of becoming Hibs number one no harm at all.
When Macey is back fit Shaun Maloney will have a tough decision to make.

Summary
I understand that turning up on derby day generates a much greater matchday experience than your average game but I cannot speak highly enough of Hibernian and their supporters.
The noise, the passion and the desperation to win was fascinating to watch but my heart was broken that I didn’t get to hear a Sunshine on Leith rendition.
I’m aware that it’s still early on in my journey to get round every club in Scotland’s pyramid but Easter Road is my undisputed favourite so far. Please visit if you can and if you wangle a ticket to the big one – even better.
Genuinely, I loved every minute of this experience and once my groundhopping project is complete it’ll be high on my list of clubs to revisit.
Hibs are going through a transitional phase having not long hired former Belgium assistant Shaun Maloney as manager and whilst result aren’t quite there yet I’m seeing enough in their performance levels to suggest they’ll come good and I’m backing him to do well.

An incredible personal stat to finish (and one that Hibees will enjoy). This match was the 18th time I’ve seen Hearts play live spanning 21 years and I’ve never seen them win a game.