Nine most unlikely Hearts & Hibs heroes in Edinburgh derbies

WAYNE FOSTER Hibs 1 Hearts 2 Sun 20 Feb 1994 Foster’s inclusion in such a list may be a little surprising. After all, he was a centre forward. He’s supposed to be the hero. However, it’s fair to say Foster, who’d been with the club since the mid-80s, wasn’t in a rich vein of form in the 1993/94 season. In fact, his goal that day, as Jock Brown’s commentary told the viewing public, was his first of the season. It was only one of two he would score the entire campaign. Not that it’s stopped Hearts fans from regarding him as a club legend since. The chant “Super Wayne Foster” is still sang regularly around the pubs in Gorgie and you’ll likely hear another rendition of it this coming Sunday. GORDON HUNTER Hearts 0 Hibs 1 Sat 27 Aug 1994 It was an oddly fitting end to Hearts’ 22-game unbeaten run against their local rivals. At various points throughout that famous sequence, Hearts hadn’t played particularly well and yet had managed to get the result. On this occasion, the first derby under Tommy McLean in front of the newly-built Wheatfield Stand, they were much the better side and yet lost the match. Gordon Hunter was a stalwart of the Hibs defence for years but, with the likes of Darren Jackson, Michael O’Neill and Pat McGinley on the park, he wasn’t the man expected to grab the famous goal. And yet there he was, getting on to the end of a David Beaumont header and smashing it into the roof of the net. ULISES DE LA CRUZ Hibs 2 Hearts 1 Sun 21 Oct 2001 Prior to the 2001/02 season, Hibs decided to make some serious moves in the transfer market and brought in Educadorian international right-back Ulises de la Cruz for a club record fee of £700,000. While he never lived him to such lofty expectations – his defensive frailties would always offset his attacking impetus – he would be fondly remembered for two reasons. Firstly, he would go on to have a terrific World Cup the following summer, attracting ill-advised interest from Aston Villa. The Midlands club forked over a fee that made Hibs three times as much on their initial investment. And secondly, he scored twice in a 2-1 win over Hearts. That win extended a run of one defeat in 11 for against their nearest rivals, and it would be the only two goals de la Cruz would score in his Hibs career. GRAHAM WEIR Hearts 4 Hibernian 4 Thu 02 Jan 2003 Not so much an unlikely figure to be the hero – after all, Weir was an up-and-coming striker whom Hearts had high expectations for – more so a completely outrageous scenario. It’s always amazing to recall that Hibs scored in the 89th minute of this game (had it not been for Weir’s antics there would surely be a place for Craig James in this team) and that only made it 3-2. There were still three more goals to come. The visitors also had time to miss and score a penalty to make it 4-2 and then, somehow, throw it all away. Weir nabbed what looked like a consolation before volleying home a Mark De Vries cutback to give fans a textbook lesson in why you never leave a football game early. PATRICK KISNORBO AND JOE HAMILL Hearts 2 Hibs 1 Sun 24 Oct 2004 These two have been lumped in together because they each scored in the same game. It’s not a particularly fondly remembered derby from a Hearts perspective, perhaps because there was such a routine feeling about it. Hearts had finished third the previous two seasons and manager Craig Levein had never lost an Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle. Another factor was that neither goalscorer had a noteworthy career with the club. Kisnorbo proved himself to be an excellent centre-back after leaving Tynecastle, but he couldn’t displace Steven Pressley and Andy Webster, and was awkward when stationed at left-back and centre-midfield, while Hamill was released at the end of this season. Things would soon change, however, when Craig Levein left for Leicester and Hibs started their charge under Tony Mowbray, finishing third that season and winning the next derby at Tynecastle. Speaking of which... AMADOU KONTE Hearts 1 Hibs 2 Wed 13 Apr 2005 The Malian-French striker is unique in his inclusion because he never actually scored a derby goal. What he did instead was turn a match completely on its head after his introduction from the substitutes’ bench. Hearts fans gave ironic cheers when Derek Riordan, golden boy in the eyes of the away support, made way with 61 minutes of this game remaining. Hibs had been poor, Hearts were leading 1-0 and looked well on their way to securing a vital three points in the chase for Europe. But big Amadou had other ideas. At a later Edinburgh derby he would routinely be beaten in the air by Jamie McAllister, and yet in this game he dominated Steven Pressley in a manic five-minute period in which Hibs scored twice through Garry O’Connor and Dean Shiels to win the match. BRIAN KERR Hearts 0 Hibs 1 Mon 06 Aug 2007 This writer doesn’t want to say anything disparaging about the Easter Road career of Brian Kerr, but unfortunately there’s no nice way of finishing this sentence. He at least made quite the impression on his league debut for John Collins’ side, drifting away from his marker to finish inside five minutes. It was to be the highlight of a terrible game mostly remembered for the venomous atmosphere from the home support towards their own striker. Lithuanian Ričardas Beniušis was signed the week previous and immediately installed as the lone striker. Fans became increasingly frustrated at his inability to do, well anything, really, and greeted the introduction of Michal Pospisil with rapturous applause. Before soon realising he wasn’t much use either. ALIM OZTURK Hibs 1 Hearts 1 Sun 26 Oct 2014 If he scores on Sunday, it won’t be a surprise, but it certainly was when Ozturk drew back his right foot and let fly with an outrageous effort in the final seconds of an Easter Road derby last season. It was his first goal for the club. With the exception of it perhaps being the winning goal, it really could not have come in any better fashion. Hibs boss Alan Stubbs would say in his post-match press conference that the lad wouldn’t hit a strike like that again in his life. He did it again the next week against Raith.