The points were shared in the third Edinburgh Derby of 2023/24 - however it felt like two dropped for Hibs in a game were the away side had the better chances and a dubious penalty call gave Hearts their equalising goal.
Emiliano Marcondes gave Hibs a deserved first half lead that was cancelled out by the controversial penalty kick, scored by Lawrence Shankland, that will likely spark much debate.
Shankland’s spot kick was one of only two shots on target from the hosts as they were out played for long spells as the visitors were unlucky with a number of chances.
Hibs had more than enough opportunities to put this game to bed but the closest we came to restoring our lead was a Jordan Obita effort that struck the post.
Nick Montgomery named an unchanged starting XI following our victory over Dundee at Easter Road a few days prior.
Hearts: Clark, Atkinson, Kent, Kingsley, Cochrane (Rowles 87'), Nieuwenhof, Devlin (Grant 65'), Vargas (Pollock 87'), Fraser (Baningime 55'), Forrest, Shankland
Subs: Gordon, Baningime, Grant, Rowles, Sibbick, Pollock, Tait, Tagawa, Lembikisa
Hibernian: Marshall, Miller, Fish, Bushiri, Obita, Moriah-Welsh (Levitt 77'), Newell, Boyle, Marcondes (Triantis 81'), Maolida, Vente (Youan 69')
Subs: Hanlon, Levitt, Youan, Wollacott, Mayenda, Stevenson, Le Fondre, Triantis, Jair Tavares
Hibs were quickly out of the blocks and had an early opportunity when Emiliano’s low driven corner kick was dummied by Nathan Moriah-Welsh to Joe Newell only for his net bound shot to strike Lewis Miller and go wide of goal.
We were doing most of the early pressing and our short, sharp passing was causing the hosts problems as we tried to play through their defensive lines.
The Hibees certainly had some terrific passages of play that got us in an around the Hearts box, only for good defending and poor decision making preventing us making more of them.
Slowly Hearts started to come more into the match and when they had a free-kick deep in our half on 25 minutes, they were almost caught out overcommitting bodies forward as Rocky Bushiri’s headed clearance sent Martin Boyle thorough on goal.
The winger had the pace to make the most of it however the ball just would not fall kindly into his path and he was eventually crowded out by Cammy Devlin and Nathaniel Atkinson.
Two minutes later and we deservedly took the lead as Boyle was again played in on goal, this time he got a shot away, knocking the ball past Zander Clark only for Atkinson to hook it off the line; he couldn’t clear it out of the danger area and Emiliano followed it up to smash it into the net.

Hearts were struggling to create any meaningful opportunities, however they did have a good chance on 33 minutes when they were awarded a free-kick on the edge of our area. Their dead ball specialist, Stephen Kingsley, took the set-piece only to slam his shot straight into the defensive wall.
As the game headed towards the half-time break Hearts were enjoying their best spell of pressure as we were forced to defend our box.
We appeared to be defending it comfortably however the hosts would be awarded a penalty kick when Will Fish was adjudged to have caught Kenneth Vargas. The decision appeared harsh and referee Kevin Clancy was asked to the review his decision by the watching VAR. However, to the surprise of many, he stuck by his original decision and Shankland levelled from the spot.
We would finish the half strongly and twice went close to restoring our lead in time added on as Emiliano’s half-volley was superbly saved by Clark at full-stretch before Vente’s effort was cleared off the line seconds later by Kingsley.
It had been a breathless first half and after a strong performance, we were unfortunate not to be leading at the break.
Possession
44%Shots
21Shots On Target
5Corners
9Fouls
92
0
Cards
1
0
Shortly after the restart, Hearts winger Alan Forrest tried his luck with a rising shot that was comfortably held by David Marshall as the hosts carved out their first shot on target from open play.
We were soon back on the offensive and turned defence into attack as Vente drove at the Hearts defence before seeing his shot deflected just wide of goal by Nieuwenhof.
Moments later, Boyle’s low cross was cleverly flicked towards goal by Vente and Frankie Kent had to head clear just in front of goal as pressure grew on the hosts.
This was followed by a shot from Moriah-Welsh on the edge of the box that was high and wide of goal much to the home supporters’ relief.
On 68 minutes Hearts keeper Clark was fortunate not to be punished when he spilled an Emiliano delivery and the ball ricocheted off Benni Baningime before going just wide of the near post.
From the corner kick the ball eventually fell to Boyle on the edge of the area and his rising shot fizzed over Clark’s crossbar.

Hibs had enjoyed a good spell of pressure but had been unable to turn it into a lead for the second time this evening as Hearts came close to hitting us with a sucker-punch as Shankland’s audacious lob beat Marshall only to drop just over the crossbar.
The game was becoming stretched as we entered the closing stages, and we perhaps should have scored when Elie Youan picked out Myziane at the back post only for the attacker to head just wide of goal.
There was no let-up in the breathtaking pace of the match as Hearts raced to the other end with Forrest’s shot blocked by Rocky and Fish thwarting Shankland on the rebound.
With six minutes remaining, we were desperately unlucky not to grab a winner when Youan held the ball up before rolling it to the overlapping Obita and his shot struck the post with Clark beaten.
There were almost seven minutes of additional time played and we had one further opportunity when Boyle’s shot was blocked on the edge of the Hearts box.