Yutaro Oda notched the home side ahead on eight minutes with Hearts only shot on target all afternoon.
The home side were reduced to ten men on the half-hour mark when Alex Cochrane was sent off for denying Chris Cadden a goal scoring opportunity.
Kevin Nisbet buried the resultant free kick to claim his 12th goal of the campaign and thereafter it became a straight shoot-out between our attack and Hearts’ defence.
The Jambos rode their luck for over an hour with goalkeeper Zander Clark producing several fine saves to deny us before a late Will Fish header was deflected onto the post.
Unfortunately, we were unable to find the goal that would allow us to pip our city rivals to fourth place on the final day of the cinch Premiership season however, we can still clinch a European slot if Celtic win next weekend’s Scottish Cup.
Boss Lee Johnston made one enforced change following our stunning midweek victory over champions Celtic at Easter Road.
CJ Egan-Riley picked up a knock in that game and missed out this afternoon. His place in the side was taken by Cadden.
We carved out the first opportunity of the game when Jake Doyle-Hayes’ corner kick was headed back across goal by Paul Hanlon to Fish and his header was saved by Clark in the Hearts goal.
Hearts opened the scoring with their first – and only shot on target during the entire 90 minutes – when James Hill’s long throw was partially cleared by James Jeggo and Oda swept it through a ruck of bodies from the edge of the box past the unsighted David Marshall.
On 16 minutes there was a lengthy delay following a sickening clash of heads between Doyle-Hayes and Peter Haring. Whilst Doyle-Hayes was able to play on, the afternoon was over for the Hearts’ man and he was replaced by Orestis Kiomourtzoglou.
Then came the moment that changed the complexion of the match. Nisbet raced onto a ball over the top, held off his man before laying it into the path of Cadden who was upended by Cochrane. Referee Don Robertson pointed to the penalty spot and cautioned the Hearts defender.
A VAR review highlighted the infringement took place just outside of the penalty area, meaning a free kick for Hibs and Cochrane’s caution was upgraded to a straight red card.
No penalty? No problem! Nisbet stepped up to bury the free kick with a sublime finish that flew past Clark at the side of the goal the keeper was guarding.
We then took control of the match with Hearts surrendering possession and getting as many men behind the ball as possible.
On 34 minutes we went close to getting our noses in front as Hanlon played a one-two with Lewis Miller on the edge of the Hearts box before the former angled drive was beaten away by the diving Clark.
From the corner, the ball fell to Doyle-Hayes and his shot was deflected just wide of goal by a maroon shirt.
With half-time approaching it took a stunning point-blank save from Clark to deny Newell as we piled pressure onto the hosts’ goal.
From the resulting set piece, this time taken by Newell, the ball found Miller at the back post and he headed just wide when he perhaps should have scored.
During the seven minutes of additional time Hearts’ skipper Lawrence Shankland had a rare shot at goal for the home side when his effort was deflected wide for a corner kick that came to nothing.
We made two changes during the interval with Harry McKirdy and Ewan Henderson replacing Aussie duo, Jeggo and Miller.
It did not take us long to get back on the offensive and on 48 minutes Cadden did brilliantly to get away from Kye Rowles and his hanging cross was glanced wide by the head of Nisbet.
We suffered an early bow in the second half when Doyle-Hayes was unable to continue and had to be replaced by Josh Campbell.
We were knocking on the door however Hearts were defending in numbers and putting their bodies on the line time and again.
Then, we suffered yet another injury blow on 66 minutes when Cadden landed awkwardly and had to be stretchered off.
That meant a reshuffle with Campbell moving to right back and Allan Delferriere taking his place in midfield and making his Hibs debut.
With 16 minutes remaining Elie Youan spun away from Nathaniel Atkinson and his shot from the edge of the box was held by Clark.
Moments later and Hanlon rose highest to reach a Newell corner kick and his header is pushed away at full stretch by Clark as Hearts continued to hang on.
We continued to dominate and penned Hearts back. Campbell had a shot from distance that was off-target before McKirdy headed wide from Hanlon’s cross.
With eight minutes remaining Youan had a close-range shot blocked by Toby Sibbick and from the resulting corner kick Fish’s header deflected off Clark and off the post. The goalkeeper knew very little about it but, lady luck was certainly on his side.
As the game entered nine additional minutes, we threw caution to the wind with Hanlon and substitute Mickey Devlin sent forward into attack.
Deep into injury time, McKirdy had a chance but his dipping half-volley from the edge of the area was just over the crossbar.
In the end, Hearts held on and despite our dominant performance we had to settle for a share of the spoils.
The result means we end the campaign in fifth place and must await the outcome of the Scottish Cup final next week to know if we will have European football next term.
Heart of Midlothian: Clark, Atkinson, Hill, Rowles, Cochrane, Devlin, Haring (Kio 18‘), McKay (Sibbick 31’), Oda (Forrest 77’), Ginnelly (Halliday 94’), Shankland. Substitutes not used: Stewart, Smith, Grant, Tait, Kuol.
Hibernian: Marshall, Miller (Henderson 46’, (Devlin 91’)), Fish, Hanlon, Stevenson (Cabraja 56’), Jeggo (McKirdy 46’), Doyle-Hayes (Campbell 51’), Newell, Cadden (Delferriere 67’), Youan, Nisbet. Substitutes not used: Johnson, Hoppe, Bushiri.
Referee: Don Robertson.
Attendance: 18,971.
