This was the last game I saw before leaving Edinburgh, and the last time I saw a Hibs team managed by a former Hibs player. John Blackley's side went into this fixture with only three league victories under their belt, though one of those was the rather memorable opening day defeat of Rangers when their new manager Graham Souness took an early bath. Hibs were also, of course, continuing their nine year streak without a win against Hearts.
That run wasn't broken as goals from Joe McBride and Gary McKay cancelled each other out in front of a 22,000 crowd. I am reliably informed that Hibs' goal was a storming McBride free kick. Sorry to say I don't remember it myself - I must have seen too many of them in my time and they all blur together...
Hibs lined up: Rough, Milne, Hunter, Kirkwood, Rae, Chisholm, May, Collins, Kane, McCluskey McBride, with Super Jo Tortolano and the eminently forgettable Mark Caughey coming off the bench for McCluskey and McBride to absolutely no effect.
I haven't provided a large pic of the programme cover as it's an ugly and boring thing, designed so that Hearts didn't even have to bother coming up with a different cover picture every fortnight. Inside is no better, with every opportunity taken to display the unpleasant visage of Wallace Mercer.
