Hibernian 1-2 Hearts: Hearts back on top after comeback against nine man Hibs | OneFootball

Heart of Midlothian came from behind to beat nine man Hibernian in the Edinburgh Derby at Easter Road to go back on top of the Scottish Premiership.

Skipper Martin Boyle gave Hibs the lead early on in the derby, finishing from close range after finding himself open in the box from a wide free-kick.

The game changed as Hibs were shown two red cards, first to goalkeeper Raphael Sallinger for handling the ball outside the box, and then early in the second half to Felix Passlack, who was shown a second yellow card to reduce the hosts to nine men.

Hearts levelled midway through the second-half through an own-goal from Warren O’Hora before Blair Spittal came up with the crucial moment for the title-chasing side as his shot found the bottom corner to give Hearts all three points.

As it happened

With only seven minutes on the clock, Hibs struck first in the derby and it was captain Martin Boyle on his final derby appearance. Jamie McGrath swung a lovely ball in from a wide free-kick and Boyle slipped away from his man at the back post to fire the hosts ahead and send the Easter Road crowd wild.The early Hibs feel-good factor soon came to a crashing end after VAR adjudged that goalkeeper Raphael Sallinger handled the ball outside the box to deny a goalscoring opportunity. Referee Andrew Dallas was sent to the monitor and quickly showed a straight red card to the Hibs shot stopper to swing the momentum in Hearts’ favour. Michael Steinwender thought he had levelled from a set piece but substitute goalkeeper Jordan Smith pulled off a wonderful stop down to his left to keep Hearts out.Hearts looked set to grab a leveller as Pierre Landry Kaboré did well in the box and tried to pick out Cláudio Braga but Felix Passlack did brilliantly to recover and clear before the Portuguese forward could get there. The chances kept coming for the visitors as Stephen Kingsley whipped a lovely cross into the box onto the head of Braga but he couldn’t keep it down.

Despite having 74% possession in the first half, Hearts were unable to break down a stubborn Hibs defence before the break. It did, however, feel that if the game continued in this way, it was only a matter of time before they found a breakthrough.

The second half started in the worst possible manner for Hibs as Passlack was shown a second yellow card which saw them go down to nine men after just forty-eight minutes, meaning they would have to hold on for almost the entire second half with two players fewer than their bitter rivals.

Just a couple of minutes after, Braga found himself face-to-face with Smith in the Hibs net, but again the substitute keeper was able to keep it out, and it felt like only a matter of time before Hearts found the goal.

Marc Leonard was given time at the edge of the box as he struck one venomously with his left-foot which smashed off the crossbar as Hibs survived another scare and Hearts just kept knocking on the door.

With 65 minutes on the clock, the title-chasers broke down the Hibs resistance and found the goal they were searching for. It came from brilliant work down the right from Sabah Kerjota who played the ball in, and a combination of Lawrence Shankland and Hibs defender Warren O’Hora who bundled the ball over the line to bring the Edinburgh derby level. But Hearts wanted more.

And that is exactly what they got. Kerjota did well on the right before laying the ball off to Blair Spittal, who, from just inside the box, took on the shot, which took a slight deflection helping to take it past Smith and give Hearts a priceless goal in the Scottish Premiership title race.

With Rangers losing at home to Motherwell earlier on, Spittal’s late goal sent the Gorgie side back to the top of the league, three points ahead of Celtic after their win over Falkirk yesterday, and four in front of Rangers. With only four games left to play, it was all about the three points for Hearts and that is exactly what they got. Next up is a huge game against Rangers at Tynecastle.