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After the defeat against "Kilmarnock" last week, Edinburgh "Hearts" bounced back impressively - in the 24th round match on Saturday in the Scotland capital's derby, they crushed the "Hibernian" team, reducing the gap from league leader "Celtic" who dropped points at home.
In the 126th Edinburgh derby, the "Hearts" team were missing their captain Steven Pressley, injured newcomers Nerijus Barasa, Neil McCann, as well as forwards Edgaras Jankauskas and Roman Bednar. Before the match, the over 17 thousand spectators gathered at the "Tynecastle" stadium honored the recently deceased former "Hearts" president Wallace Mercer.
The visitors started the match much more successfully, and the home team had to rely on goalkeeper Craig Gordon to save them from "Hibernian" attacks, with him saving a header by Gary O'Connor in the 6th minute and then brilliantly stopping a powerful Derek Riordan shot.
The first threat on the "Hibernian" goal came from Rudi Skacel, but his shot went straight to the goalkeeper. However, the Czech legionnaire helped his team score the first goal - in the 27th minute after a pass from Takis Fyssas, he entered the penalty area, made a pass to Paul Hartley in the middle, and he directed the ball into the net from close range.
The missed goal slightly disrupted the successful visitors until then, and the initiative completely shifted to "Hearts". Calum Elliot had excellent opportunities to double the lead, but after a defensive error, he found himself one-on-one but missed the target, and Skacel was unable to score from a few meters away.
The home team's attacks continued, and in the 40th minute after a penalty kick, C. Berra headed the ball to R. Skacel, who scored a second goal after passing through a group of opponents, and just four minutes later, with the opponents' defenders making another mistake in the penalty area, the Czech was brought down. The referee awarded a penalty kick, which was converted by the team captain P. Hartley.
Just before the end of the first half, the visitors' situation became even more complicated - "Hibernian" veteran Gary Smith lost his temper, hitting Saulius Mikoliunas and was sent off the field. The visitors were reduced to ten players, and at halftime, they faced a three-goal deficit.
At the start of the second half, D. Cesnauskis replaced S. Mikoliunas, and the young Calum Elliot increased "Hearts'" lead even further, scoring the fourth goal in the 50th minute after a great run and accurate pass from R. Skacel, beating "Hibernian" goalkeeper Simon Brown.
In the 58th minute, G. O'Connor's long-range shot deflected off and found the back of the net, reducing the deficit, but it was only a consolation goal. The score remained 4-1 for the rest of the match, so "Hearts" crushed their city neighbors at home for the second time this season.
Good news came for "Hearts" fans from Glasgow, where the current Scottish champions "Celtic" failed to maintain their lead against "Dundee Utd" and settled for a 3-3 draw. Former "Celtic" forward David Fernandez scored two goals for the visitors - helping reduce the gap between the 1st and 2nd place teams to eight points.
In other eventful matches, "Aberdeen" drew with "Kilmarnock," "Dunfermline" and "Motherwell" also ended in a draw, while "Falkirk" won away with a narrow margin against the last-placed team "Livingston."
24th round results:
"Hearts" 4 - 1 "Hibernian"
"Aberdeen" 1 - 1 "Kilmarnock"
"Celtic" 3 - 3 "Dundee Utd"
"Dunfermline" 2 - 2 "Motherwell"
"Livingston" 0 - 1 "Falkirk"
League table
