© EuroFootball.com
The "revolution" of Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov in Edinburgh is starting to produce impressive results - the "Hearts" club crushed their neighbor "Hibernian" in the city derby with a score of 4-0 and, surpassing the champion "Rangers" in goal difference, became the leader of the Scottish Premier League. One goal for the Scottish team was scored by Lithuanian S. Mikoliūnas.
13' [1 - 0] Rudolf Skacel
58' [2 - 0] Paul Hartley (11m.)
71' [3 - 0] Stephen Simmons
83' [4 - 0] Saulius Mikoliūnas
"Hearts": Gordon, Neilson, Webster, Pressley, McAllister, Mikoliūnas, Hartley, Skacel, Brellier (69' Wallace), Elliot (52' Simmons), Bednar (75' MacFarlane)
After the victory away against "Kilmarnock" in the first round of matches, the team's fans eagerly awaited the city derby, for which tickets were sold out in just one day. M. Pospišilas joined the team last week, but he was not yet ready to play, while J. Brellier had the opportunity to debut.
Once again in the starting lineup of "Hearts" was S. Mikoliūnas, while E. Jankauskas suffered an injury before the match and was not included in the team's application for the match. Another Lithuanian, D. Česnauskis, was on the substitutes' bench, but as it turned out later, he did not appear on the pitch.
The hosts took the lead in the 13th minute - the goalkeeper parried R. Bednar's shot, but R. Skacel was quick to push it into the goal. "Hibernian" responded with their attack, and after G. Caldwell's shot from a corner, C. Gordon had to save his goal.
In the remainder of the first half, "Hearts", along with an actively playing S. Mikoliūnas, created several chances, but the score remained unchanged, and both Edinburgh teams left the field for halftime with "Tynecastle" stadium's hosts leading 1-0.
At the beginning of the second half, the teams exchanged dangerous opportunities, and in the 57th minute, when S. Glass handled the ball in the penalty area, a penalty was awarded to "Hibernian", which P. Hartley successfully converted.
In the 71st minute, the score was further extended with two young players who appeared on the pitch after the substitution - L. Wallace's pass was missed by the defenders, and S. Simmons, facing the goalkeeper, accurately shot into the corner of the goal.
Although it seemed like the match was over, with seven minutes left, S. Mikoliūnas also scored, hitting the away team's goalkeeper Z. Malkowski from 25 meters unprepared and scoring his second goal in two matches. The match ended with the "Hearts" fans celebrating a convincing victory in the derby.
