Poor old Hibs, undone by their own defensive mastery

Nine men nearly punched a big hole in Hearts' title hopes. The way the goals were conceded was so cruel it should be banned under the Geneva Convention

Blair Spittal inflicts the killer blow in 86 minutes, making Hibs’ heroic and inventive backs-against-the-wall performance all for nothing

I thought I’d be really clever this weekend. I had my own game to play on Sunday afternoon, and didn’t want to worry about too significant a word count when I got home, so I got the bones of my ‘Hibs, finally’ piece done ahead of the derby.

I’ll paraphrase because I hate wasting words: I’ve wanted to write about Hibs all season but wider Scottish football has been too funny to justify it. Rangers started with a BAFTA-for-best-comedy-entry one win in eight games, Celtic then seemed to take that as some sort of challenge, Motherwell just decided to play the most exciting football in Europe for a laugh. You know, you’ve been watching it.

Then there was some A-Level stuff about how I really like their 3-4-1-2 because it’s braver — and by extension, a lot more entertaining — then the usual 3-4-2-1. Two paragraphs about what an extra forward does for you compared to an extra number 10, how the wing-backs are absolutely nuts, and half an insight on why that means they drew games they’d otherwise lose.

But into the 86th minute of the Edinburgh derby, who would have given a shit?

Getting themselves into the top half of the split, Hibs were always destined to play a supporting part in the final act of Scotland’s best title race in 40 years. That they might have had a starring role in its most dramatic chapter shouldn’t quite have been the shock it felt to watch.

One-nil up, down to 10 men, but adding in petty spite for what they were lacking in physical bodies, the already-booked Felix Passlack slung an errant foot towards a ball he’d already lost. Hibs now had 42 minutes plus stoppage time to play with only nine men, and somehow they reorganised to make a game of it. A game that felt like it had slightly more in common with the quieter days of 1942 Stalingrad, but a game nonetheless.

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