Deadly In a heated Edinburgh derby at Easter Road, in-form Hearts defeated Hibernian 1-0 thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Lawrence Shankland, strengthening their hold on third place in the Premiership.
Shankland and Socceroos forward Martin Boyle both missed early penalties, and it appeared that the game would finish goalless.
But in the third minute of stoppage time, the talisman Jambos captain ignited the visiting fans with joy as he scored his 16th goal of the year to give the Tynecastle team their third straight win without a goal.
Six Australians compete in the exciting Edinburgh Derby.
Socceroo In the Scottish Premiership match between Nick Montgomery’s Hibernian and Hearts, Martin Boyle missed a critical penalty for his team.
Hibs manager Nick Montgomery made three changes to the team that lost 1-0 at St Johnstone: Rocky Bushiri, Joe Newell, and Josh Campbell replaced Paul Hanlon, Jimmy Jeggo, and Elie Youan.
In addition, Stephen Kingsley, Calem Nieuwenhof, and Alan Forrest took the places of Craig Halkett, Yutaro Oda, and Barrie McKay in the Hearts starting lineup for their 2-0 victory over St. Mirren on Saturday.
When Bushiri was judged to have handled the ball while attempting to head clear Cochrane’s long throw into the box, the VAR review gave the Jambos the opportunity to take the lead. The penalty came in the fifth minute. Shankland’s low penalty struck David Marshall’s right-hand post outside.
After Dylan Vente’s goalbound attempt was deflected by Kye Rowles’ flailing hand on the edge of the six-yard box, Hibs won a spot-kick in the fourteenth minute, giving them the chance to exact revenge on Hearts’ top scorer for his carelessness with the penalty kick. But Zander Clark did a fantastic job of moving to his right and pushing Boyle’s attempt onto the post.
For the remainder of the first half, the hosts exerted the most pressure, but Rowles made two vital saves to deny headers from Vente and Campbell, and Jair Tavares’ fierce attempt was deflected over by Aidan Denholm.
Josh Campbell hurt himself trying to tackle Beni Baningime and had to be taken off the field on a stretcher seven minutes after the half, dealing a blow to Hibs. Youan took his place on stage.
In the 68th minute, Hearts substitute Kenneth Vargas had a good opportunity after Lewis Miller misdirected the ball, but the Costa Rican shot just wide from 20 yards out.
Conversely, in order to stop Vente and Tavares, Clark needed to make a few more outstanding saves.
After the Jambos captain separated himself from Bushiri, Hibs keeper Marshall stopped Shankland, but the Hearts forward was unflappable. In stoppage time, he found space in the box after Clark’s long ball and maintained composure to curl home a clinical, game-winning finish.
GET MORE NEWS HERE