Sunday 21st January 2018 Kick off 1405hrs Hearts v Hibernian United Football – Scotland – Scottish Cup Edinburgh derbies are rarely dull affairs but I think anyone who watched the last meeting between Hearts and Hibs just after Christmas can agree that the goalless draw was as drab as they come. Both managers and sets of players have a quick opportunity to produce something much better although if you ask either Craig Levein or Neil Lennon, they’ll gladly take it being a terrible game as long as their team is in the hat for the next round of the Scottish Cup. They have met in each of the last two seasons in this competition and both times Hibs have prevailed after a replay – will lightning strike for a third time, or can Hearts end their derby hoodoo.
There has been plenty of attention surrounding Hearts despite not having played in 2018 courtesy of the winter break in Scotland. The reason for the attention is the loan signing of Steven Naismith from Norwich City, with the Scottish internationalist going straight into the squad for Sunday’s game. Naismith had been courted by several clubs as he looked to return to Scotland, including his former club Rangers. Hearts stole a march on the others, however, and have reunited Naismith with one of his former teammates, Kyle Lafferty. It’s a further signal of intent from the Tynecastle club as they look to make an impression on the league and Scottish Cup in the second half of the season. It was a frustrating and stuttering first half to their campaign and they have to look to improve on that. The first aim will be to cement their place in the top six – which would have been the minimal they could have expected at the start of the season – and then look for a serious run at the Scottish Cup having been eliminated in the previous two seasons at an early stage by their archest of rivals.
Like their neighbours, Hibs have also been busy in the transfer market during January. At the heart of that is the loaning signing of Australian international Jamie MacLaren, whom Neil Lennon will hope can add some goals he feels has been missing from his team’s play in the first half of their season. MacLaren has had a difficult time of it since moving to Europe but he was prolific in his native country and will be looking to play his way into the Australian national team’s squad for this summer’s World Cup. The fact Hibs also usurped Hearts to the signing will mean he’s already popular amongst the Hibees support. Having won promotion to the Premiership following their Championship triumph in 2016/17, there has been many more positives than negatives for Lennon’s team. They currently sit in fourth spot and are five points better off than Hearts having played the same number of games. Their hopes of landing the first domestic cup competition were ended by Celtic at the semi-final stage and whilst it shows their capability, Lennon will be wanting more. That starts by getting a positive result on Sunday in a competition that they have very fond recent memories of.
Hearts v Hibernian Betting Tip
For both sets of supporters there’s not a more important game in their whole calendar than the Edinburgh derby. Although they met little under a month ago, the three week break will ensure there is plenty of anticipation and the fact it’s in the Scottish Cup will add that little bit extra to the match this weekend. Hearts high point of the season was the 4-0 thrashing of Celtic which brought and end to the champion’s record breaking unbeaten run. For Hibs it would have been the 1-0 win over Hearts at Easter Road back in October. That win, and the draw at Tynecastle in December means it is now nine games unbeaten in Edinburgh derbies for the green half of Edinburgh, with Hearts’ last win coming back in August 2014. That’s a significant trend considering how long Hearts had a stranglehold in this fixture for.
The major talking point (probably the only one) when these two last met was the goal that never was. Olly Shaw looked to have put Hibs ahead early on but despite the balling crossing the line none of the officials were convinced enough to award the goal, much to the frustration of Lennon and his players. We can only hope there is much more to talk about after this game but if recent history is anything to go by, then we’re probably not going to expect many goals. Seven of the last nine meetings have contained two or fewer goals and I can see a similar outcome on Sunday. Going for under 2.5 goals may be one way to go but as alluded to previously, this is the third straight year the clubs have met in the Scottish Cup and the original tie has been at Tynecastle. Hibs appear to have Hearts’ measure at this point and with it being the first game back after the break, we can expect another very competitive, closely fought battle that has a good chance of ending in another stalemate.
Draw 21/10 @ Sportingbet
