Arse !

If we get to the end of this season without shooting ourselves in the foot again it will be because we have run out of bullets.
Suicidal team choice the chosen method this time, none of the volcanic manager sacking or anything so extreme - just mental team selection.
The Romanov's, that was the name of the old Russian royal family, maybe thats where this madness comes from, maybe it is some deep seated superiority complex steeped in arrogance - might be. Actually i don't really believe the Romanov's pick the team conspiracy theories that much apart from the Andy Wester situation, looks like he is out in the cold never to return and we have seen the last of him in a Hearts strip - bit of a travesty. I can understand Lee Wallace at left back. For all that we love Fyassas and his magicness he just doesn't have the legs to face Sproule, so without Goncalves, it was not a bad shout to have Wallace in there. But! Can't understand why Fyassas was not on the bench. More tho with Pressley injured the only half way sensible thing to do with the back four was to make it as settled as possible which must have meant bringing Webster back in instead of Ibrahim Tall at least then 2 of the four would have been the tried and tested combination that has been so miserly all season.
No argument with Skacel on the bench, he is still not performing, top scorer he may still be but he has been off the boil for ages. The press are trying their damnest to make him seem like a prema-donna, stir up trouble where there really is none, anything to make Tynecastle look like a circus ( like we need help with that ). I saw it in his performance last week, low on confidence, trying too hard, shooting just off target when he could take another yard and slam it home, just playing the wrong ball at the wrong time. He could still shine again and make a big difference this season but it is in the balance really and there is no way we should rely on him.
No idea about Jankauskas being dropped, he is one of the Romanov boys, his ommission may well be down to the rotation theory.
I guess the other big one for the conspiracy theorists is Brellier out Aguair in, Brellier has been brilliant all year but it is well known that Romanov doesn't rate him at all. If that were all there was and Romanov was picking the team then why was Brellier on the bench at all? Jankauskas and Webster were in the stand after all. It's a tough call actually because Aguair is pretty good, works well in there with Hartley. Think i would like to see Brellier back for the Celtic game tho - just a bit more metal.
The upshot of all this was - i was totally confused by the team selection for the game on Saturday and i can only think of one thing - of the games left it was viewed by the people that pick the team, that the game at Easter Road was going to be the easy one, so we could rest some and continue to alienate others - If that is the case then these guys have learned nothing about Scottish football. Do you think if we had scraped through the semi 2 - 1 the selection would have been different? Christ this game was huge and Hibs were never going to do us any favours and we went into it looking like a bunch of amateurs.

The game aside there were many points to note, reprise of the now classic 'OH THE HIBEES ARE GAY', also turned to the tune of Born to Run. This was high quality entertainment with the Hibees joining in with specific references to Paul Hartleys love of Judy Garland movies. Try as they might tho they will just have to accept that we got there first and they will have to conceed that ofcourse they are all GAY. At the end of the game with the Hibees obviously delighted with things the DJ at Easter Road played Electric Six - Gay Bar. Got to hand it to them thats a pretty damn good response. All in all this banter when compared to the vitriol that would have been swaging back and forth at the old firm game the next day, is in a different league entirely. I can see EUFA clamping down on all this homophobia tho, we will probably be docked 10 points from next season and made to set a section in the Roseburn Stand with pink seats.

So to the football.
Hearts were just bloody awful in the first 30 minutes, just plain rank. For all it seemed like Hibs were much much better they still didn't produce much, the goal aside. The new offside rules just seem to be causing more confusion and controversy every week. Simplest way to look at this one is if it had been last year it would have been offside - this year you could debate it for hours and still have no idea - the areas have just been greyed to the point where all the grey bits have met in the middle and it is just one huge grey bit.
I have no idea if he was offside or not, anyroads that wee shite Riordan scored ( hopefully for the last time against Hearts ).
As the half wore on Hearts gradually started to shift through a couple of gears but really we were rank in the extreme. A hopeful ball for Bednar to run onto tho caused more confusion in the Hibs defence than it should have as Bednar bore down alongside two Hibs defenders and the Hibs keeper. The ball broke Hibs way and they allowed it to go back to the keeper who immediately transported himself back to Hampden and gifted another goal to Hearts - oh for gods sake.
Half Time 1 - 1
The second half was better from Hearts, obviously bouyed by the mentalist Hibs keeper and the fact that we were miraculously in the game.
Hibs seemed to drop into themselves and lost what they had in midfield. So Hearts looked the better team in the grand tradition of 'a game of two halfs' - so it was with deep irony that in the end Hibs stole this one with a breakaway goal against the run of play.
Skacel had been brought on for Chesnauskis, weirdly since he had been doing much better than Mikoliunas ( who was also looking a bit likely to lose the plot ), no real effect tho. Hibs however brought on, top of the ned tree - Scott Brown and the new Morrocan striker whose debut was the semi final. Bezoulan or something like that, it was his loss of possession in midfield that allowed the breakaway for Hearts first goal in the semi and the whole party thing to kick off. They did make a difference and Bezoulan got his revenge, he enjoyed it so much he ran the length of the park to celebrate in front of the Hearts crowd - booked obviously. Later monkey faced Mowbray claimed that it might have been a cultural thing a French thing? Good grief.
Full Time Hibs 2 - Hearts 1

So the 5 point lead was there for the taking by Rangers, a chance to reduce to 2 and put 2nd place into their own hands. They couldn't take it tho they played out a dour 0 - 0 at Celtic park. So we shot ourselves in the foot again and have played our very last get out of jail free card - but i am pretty up beat about things. 2nd place is still in our own hands and i think that this game was our screw up for the last few games of the season.
Predicting 2 victories at Tynecastle, Celtic then Aberdeen for Hearts to remain 4 points ahead when we go to Ibrox at the end of the season. Celtic are showing signs of already being on the beach and Aberdeen's season could be all but over too when they come a week on wednesday and everyone will be playing for cup final places, and i promise i will keep taking the tablets.