The Edinburgh massive

The rivalry between Hibs and Hearts here in Edinburgh is, frankly, not as friendly as it should be at times. I have friends on both sides of the maroon-and-green divide, and over the course of the season -- when and only when Dumbarton are not playing -- I will make trips to see both of them.

That said, I live in Leith and Easter Road Stadium (pictured) is less than a mile from where I stay… plus the Hibees link with the Sons, through gaffer Ian Murray and others, is strong. So I lean green. Or at least, I  have in recent Scottish Cup finals, though I tend to avoid the derbies.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the possibility/probability that the mighty DFC will get to play at Tynecastle next season, and hope that Hearts can recover and flourish as a fan-directed club after their recent woes. This afternoon they are up against Inverness Caley Thistle (former boss: new Hibs gaffer Terry Butcher) in the Scottish League Cup semi-final this afternoon… and, ironically, the match is at Easter Road.

If I'd had the time and money I'd have tried to grab a ticket. As it is, I'll be watching on BBC1 Scotland. The other semi, won 4-0 by Aberdeen against St Johnstone, grabbed the headlines for the right, footballing reasons. I hope the same is true of today's showcase, given the unsavoury happenings after the game at Gorgie yesterday.

There will be another major Scottish final without either of the Old Firm involved at the end of this season, that's for sure. This can only be good for the game here, which deserves much more of a break (especially in the media) than it gets.

Geggsy's tough call

Despite their torrid time in the SPL, my nearest professional football neighbours, Hibernian, are now in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup, having dispatched First Division Ayr United this afternoon.

Outwith beloved Dumbarton, my sympathy is with fellow Leithers, of course. The taxi-driver who ferried me to a BBC Radio Scotland interview last week is a Hibee, as are many of my neighbours. Following Scottish football from England in my youth, I remember well the Pat Stanton era, the 1973/4 UEFA Cup matches against Leeds United (I have the first-leg programme), and more from Hibs' glorious past.

That said, I'm also an underdog backer, and the Honest Men now have midfielder Andy Geggan, a former Son who gave great service at Dumbarton, with 145 appearances and 9 goals between 2006 and 2011. So I'd have had reason to cheer this one going either way, frankly.

As it turned out, it wasn't Geggsy's day. His bundling over of Isaiah Osbourne at a Hibs corner gave the visitors a penalty, which Wolves loanee Leigh Griffiths put away for his home town club with aplomb. It was a tough call for Geggan, but a fair one.

Andy might have had something at the other end, too. On 55 minutes Ayr's Micheal McGowan sent in a good cross, Geggan fired, but Hibs' Graham Stack made an effective save.

So it was not to be for the First Division side. The Leithers went through 2-0, the other goal coming on 6 minutes from Roy O'Donovan. I'm backing them for the Scottish Cup this year, Celtic notwithstanding.

Leith said, the better?

Spotted and snapped among the crowd at today's SFL Second Division clash between Sons and Brechin City at the Rock was none other than under-pressure Hibernian manager Colin Calderwood (pictured), who like me had made the pilgrimage to Dumbarton from Edinburgh (I live in Leith, about a mile away from Hibs' Easter Road ground), though with rather different intent.

Presumably Colin was there to check up on the Hedgemen's Number 5, Euan Moyes, who is on loan from the Hibees. He was also at Arbroath under manager Jim Weir Who (moved on to Glebe Park pre-season). Moyes is highly rated, as Andy Galloway notes in Sons View this week. Some weeks ago Euan scored his second goal of the season in Brechin's 3-1 defeat by another of his old club's, Livingston.

Colin Calderwood, meanwhile, has a mountain to climb with out-of-sorts Hibernian, having moved to Scotland to take charge of the famous SPL side after being appointed first team coach at Newcastle United two years ago this month (almost to the day), and having been assistant manager to ill-fated Chris Hughton as the Magpies gained promotion back to the English Premier League at the first attempt by winning the 2009–10 Football League Championship.

Hibs have yet to score a goal in 2011, and have not kept a clean sheet for two months.  But having signed Matt Thornhill from Nottingham Forest and Martin Scott from Ross County, Calderwood yesterday added teenage Icelander Victor Palsson from Liverpool to his squad, in an attempt to turning things round. I hope he succeeds. He didn't look to cheery (who can blame him?), but I imagine he had a more productive afternoon than us Dumbarton fans!
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Hibs and Saints grind out a draw

Hibs try to turn the game

Not having thought about it as much as I should have beforehand, I definitely found that I had qualms as I approached Easter Road yesterday afternoon. Given that Hibernian's home fixture against St Johnstone and other Scottish Premier League games were only going ahead because overseas officials (in this case, three from Malta) had been drafted in to replace striking Scottish refs, turning up felt - as Walter Smith said the other day - "like being a scab". One official from Israel said he "felt deceived" by the SFA.  Thankfully I got a comp in the end. I think I might have balked at handing that cash over. Having been a trade union member for my whole working life, I've never crossed a picket line. Just 44 officials could hardly mount one at eight different venues in pursuit of their campaign to end abuse and false accusations of bias. Even so, they have a strong point to make and I've written to the SFA to back it. The issue is not that officials should be immune from criticism or accountability, but that they should be able to do a difficult and not very well rewarded job without intimidation.

Steven Thicott at half-time

As for this particular footballing encounter... well, as Dean King from Dumbarton (Helensburgh, actually) put it afterwards, "nice reffing, shame about the game!" We and his son had met up for a drink at the Middleton Bar before the match, since DFC were not playing due to the referees' action. Hibs are also my local side now that I reside in Leith. I'm 20 minutes' walk from their famous ground. Due to my prior Sons commitments and the happenstance of when midweek opportunities to see them come up, this is the first time I've got to Easter Road since moving to Edinburgh. (I've been to Tynecastle twice. Sorry Hibees!). With the new stand, it's a fine stadium, and I was fortunate enough to be given a seat a few rows up right on the half-way line. Not that this made the football any prettier. Both sides laboured, but a combination of poor decision making, iffy distribution and disappointing first touches on the ball made it a lacklustre display with barely any chances at either end. There will be better green and white afternoons or evenings, I'm sure. New boss Colin Calderwood will certainly be hoping so. For what it's worth, my man of the match was Hibs no 22, Daniel Galbraith. He worked his socks off.
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Make that a double

Not being persuaded by the bitternesses that can infect some football rivalries, I was equally delighted that Hibernian had managed to overcome Rangers 3-0 at Ibrox the other night as I was to witness Hearts' determined 2-0 defeat of Celtic. A double for Edinburgh!

In public I affect a studied neutrality when it comes to the capital's two largest football teams, though being a Leith resident I'd tip the green way given a choice. To be fair, I even even saw some Jambos applauding that result from Glasgow. If anything unites non-Old Firm football fans up here, it's a win over one of the terrible twins - let alone two in one night. A happy evening for the Athens of the North, then, as the Daily Record noted the next day.

To even the personal score, I hope to get to Easter Road (only a mile away) sometime soon. The midweek opportunity has simply nor arisen yet.
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