[ritchiebaby]

The long awaited New Year Derby will be here on Saturday afternoon. Hibs will be playing in their second early kick-off in a week and if they can get off to the same start as they did against Rangers, then they'll be hard to beat. Unbeaten Hearts at home will be slight favourites, but Hibs have certainly narrowed the gap, both in play and confidence. The Jambos will undoubtedly be a tough nut to crack, unlike Rangers who were swept aside by Hibs, and Hearts have a difficult choice to make. Take Hibs on in a passing game, where Hearts could find themselves outplayed, or try to do a Rangers and hack Hibs out of the game in a vain attempt to intimidate the men in green. Either way, Hearts will know they've been in a game and would be delighted (and relieved) to preserve their unbeaten record, just as they were in the last derby at Easter Road.

As for Hibs - same again, please. The Hibees have nothing to lose and will love to once again have the chance of being the first to take 3 points off Hearts. At Tynecastle, such a victory would be even sweeter. If we get a Hibs' display similar to last week, I'd fancy a Hibs' victory by one or even two goals.

Barring injuries, the team should be along these lines:-

Oxley,
Gray, Fontaine, Hanlon, Stevenson,
Handling, Craig, McGeouch, Robertson, Allan,
Malonga.

Subs - Booth (only if required), Stanton, Cummings, Kennedy.

[St Charles Owl]

Big game and the perfect match for one team to really set them up for the second half of the season!! With Rangers seriously wobbling both sides need to take advantage while they can. For Hearts, winning this one could just put them too far ahead and for Hibs to really have any chance of the title then they need to win this!! Will be an interesting derby game!!

[ritchiebaby]

SCO

To be honest, Hibs have no chance of winning the title - only Hearts can throw it away. But the 3 points will keep up the pressure on Rangers for second place, and Rangers could lose some of their better players in the January transfer window. Fourth place will do me, but second place means fewer play-off games to win.

[St Charles Owl]

The thing is Ritchie, Hearts haven't lost yet in the league, so if you could hand them their first defeat, especially as its a local derby, it will be interesting to see how they react to that!! They are a fairly young side after all so you never know!

[ritchiebaby]

Hearts 1 Hibs 1

The usual frantic derby football where Hibs should have come away with the 3 points. They started well and finished well, but as usual didn't score enough goals when on top. New loan signing, Martin Boyle from Dundee, came on as a late sub, replacing goalscorer Jason Cummings.

Credit to Hearts for never giving up, Walker scoring just before half-time, but they finished the game by having an attacking free-kick position and played it backwards!

Both teams would be glad to get the game over without a defeat and 11 players still on the pitch.

[0762]

Cummings should have won this match for Hibs, whose dominant % possession reflected the difference in the positive way Stubbs approached the game compared with Neilsen's 4-5-1 strategy. The Hibs manager played two up top and it should've paid off for Hibs today - by far the better side!! Cummings failure to finish them off from such a terrific Stevenson cross, bordered on a criminal act and just reflects how Hibs occasionally let a good result slip away with Cummings previously known to be one of the main culprits up front - he has done it before!! He scored a good first goal from Scott Allan's wicked cross, but definitely should've bagged a brace of goals! I'll bet Malonga would not have missed that headed opportunity to score a second killer goal. They played well and deserved the win.

[ritchiebaby]

Very true. We're certainly going in the right direction under Stubbs, but still need that ruthless streak to win tight games. It's taken two top-drawer strikes to deny us in the last two derbies, so we're close to getting it right.

GGTTH

[Fredstersafool]

Erm hearts had more possession Hibs were just better with there possession I think we deserved our point for the way defended

[ritchiebaby]

Aye, fred, Hearts did have more possession. Last minute free-kick to put the Hibs defence under pressure and the Jambos chickened out.    10 attempts on goal, only 1 on target.    So much for the much vaunted Hearts attack! You lot were desperate to hold on for a point - only Hibs wanted to win the game.  

[Fredstersafool]

Can't disagree to much with that, but those are the cold hard facts Ritchie.