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In the "Premier" league of Scotland, five matches of the 35th round were played on Saturday. The city derby ended in failure for the "Hibernian" team, and Edinburgh "Hearts" club made their situation in the battle for the second place a bit more difficult, while the underdogs "Dunfermline" practically sealed the fate of "Livingston" team for relegation.
For "Hearts" coach Valdas Ivanauskas, the match had to be played with a significantly depleted lineup - the team was without injured defenders Jose Goncalves, Steven Pressley, Takis Fyssas, and once again Andy Webster and Edgaras Jankauskas were absent for unclear reasons, while Julien Brellier and Rudi Skacel remained on the bench. Deividas Cesnauskis took the place of the latter, forming a "Lithuanian" fullback duo with Saulius Mikoliunas.
Seeking revenge for the defeat in the cup semi-final, "Hibernian" controlled the game at home and in the 14th minute, taking advantage of the inexperienced visitors' defense, they took the lead - after a pass from Ivan Sproule, the ball ended up at Derek Riordan's feet and he sent it into the corner of the goal with a precise shot. "Hearts" appealed for an offside on Steven Fletcher, but the goal was allowed by the referee.
In the tense first half, which was full of mistakes and tough play, the only real chance for "Hearts" to score came from S. Mikoliunas, but the Lithuanian's shot from the edge of the penalty area was blocked by "Hibernian" goalkeeper Zbigniew Malkowski. However, just before half-time, the visitors equalized when the hosts' defenders and goalkeeper lost the ball in a scramble and Roman Bednar took advantage by scoring into an empty net.
In the second half, inspired by the equalizing goal, the "Hearts" team took control and constantly launched attacks towards the opponents' goal. The first chance fell to R. Bednar again, but his attempt was saved by Z. Malkowski, while shots from Bruno Aguiar and Deividas Cesnauskis from long range were slightly off target.
Senegalese defender Ibrahim Tall had a great opportunity to score his first goal in Scotland midway through the second half, but his header went just wide. "Hearts" struggled to score and in the 78th minute, V. Ivanauskas' team was punished when Moroccan Abdessalam Benjelloun exploited a gap in the opponents' defense and sent the ball into the goal with a low shot.
At the end of the match, Rudi Skacel almost snatched a draw, but his quickly taken penalty kick was slightly off target and the ball flew over the crossbar. "Hibernian" held on to secure the victory and complicated matters for the "Hearts" team, who now need to rely on a victory for "Celtic" in Sunday's Glasgow derby to maintain their five-point lead over "Rangers".
In the second day's first match of the "Aberdeen" and "Kilmarnock" played to a goalless draw, while in the second set of fixtures, "Inverness" snatched a last-minute victory against "Dundee Utd" and solidified their seventh position, "Falkirk" drew 1-1 with "Motherwell", and "Dunfermline" defeated "Livingston" 3-2 in a closely fought match, effectively ending the latter club's hopes of avoiding relegation to a lower league.
Results of the 35th round:
2 - 1
16` [1 - 0] Derek Riordan
45` [1 - 1] Roman Bednar
78` [2 - 1] Abdessalam Benjelloun
1 - 0
90` [1 - 0] Craig Dargo
3 - 2
9` [0 - 1] Richard Brittain (11m.)
38` [1 - 1] Mark Burchill
63` [1 - 2] Colin Healy
78` [2 - 2] Mark Burchill
85` [3 - 2] Noel Hunt
0 - 0
1 - 1
16` [1 - 0] Alan Gow
58` [1 - 1] Phil O`Donnell
League table
