Scripts, traffic cones and mind coaches - Hibs and Hearts serve up ugly fare befitting of current status

In acres of space down the right-hand side, Hibs right-back Lewis Miller strode forward. With options ahead, to the side and behind, the Australian just passed the ball straight out of play. A whole stadium groaned.

Perhaps it is unfair to pick on Miller, whose flick-on from a free-kick helped spark the opening Hibs goal, but then you watch back his pitiful attempt at tracking Hearts substitute James Wilson’s run at the back post ... it was a lamentable bit of defending that cost Hibs three precious Premiership points.

He was not the only sinner at Easter Road. Many wore green and maroon shirts. This was a wretched match in terms of quality, quite befitting of the “basement derby” tag given to it pre-match. As it is, thanks to Wilson’s late strike to cancel out Mykola Kuharevych’s opener on 65 minutes, both teams are on six points, with Hearts 11th by virtue of one goal. Hibs remain bottom. These are vexing times for the club.

Gray knows as much, although the rookie head coach is powerless to stop the individual mistakes that are costing his team dear. They are happening late in football matches, when the pressure is on and mental strength is required. At Dundee United last time out, it was two goals in stoppage time to lose 3-2. At least it was only one goal shipped to Hearts, who pounced on 86 minutes when a long throw was met by the diminutive Alan Forrest and Wilson netted the loose ball via the post.

This is what Hibs do, concede late goals. They needed a second of their own to kill off the match after the Ukrainian substitute Kuharevych netted from close range after Hearts keeper Craig Gordon had turned Marvin Ekpiteta’s header on to the bar. This was not the only opportunity Hibs created, and Gray pointed out a lack of ruthlessness at the other end. On his first Hibs start, Dwight Gayle missed two presentable headers and had a shot kicked off the line by James Penrice. Gordon saved from Ekpiteta late on. Hibs had the better chances.

But what they don’t have is fortitude. Hearts weren’t great here, there for the taking in Neil Critchley’s first Edinburgh derby. The Jambos looked flat, perhaps tired after Thursday’s Europa Conference League win over Omonoia. There was a creative void in this team, and the rare chances that came either Kenneth Vargas or Lawrence Shankland’s way were spurned. Cammy Devlin and Malachi Boateng scrapped away like puppies against their Hibs counterparts Nectarios Triantis and Hyeokkyu Kwon in a nippy, ugly midfield battle.

In Gordon, though, they have a goalkeeper capable of making good saves look routine. And they also have the minerals to fight back in this fixture, characters that can drive the team on despite performance levels not being at their highest. The Hearts fans in the Dunbar End behind Josef Bursik’s goal never gave up hope of a late goal. They’ve read the scripts.

Hibs were not helped by their own keeper, the 24-year-old on loan from Club Brugge who has lost whatever mojo he arrived with. Shaky at crosses, limp-wristed when handling the ball, his jittery presence makes the performances of Ekpiteta and Warren O’Hora in front of him more admirable. The centre-half duo kept Shankland in particular quiet, while Jordan Obita was solid as a rock down the left-hand side. But then the clock struck 86 minutes, and Hibs showed their unattractive side.

There is at least a nice fairytale in Wilson, the Balerno High pupil who still has exams to sit. The 17-year-old scored his first goal for the club last weekend at Tynecastle and showed good predatory instincts to finish. He received the acclaim of the Hearts fans afterwards. Not to do Wilson out of his moment, but put a traffic cone in opposition colours in the Hibs penalty box at the end of matches and the chances are the ball will bounce off it and into the net.

Critchley believed Hearts were worthy of a point, despite their blunt threat up top. The 46-year-old Englishman has clearly improved the players in the few weeks he has been working with them, but the vivacity that we saw against St Mirren and Omonoia was absent in Leith. The trajectory remains upwards, though, with Kilmarnock due at Tynecastle on Wednesday.

Hibs, on the other hand, need to find resilience. The transfer window is closed, so Gray cannot conjure up new players. This is about eking the best out of what is available to them. He is required to be a mind coach as well as a tactician. Gray refused to go as far to say his team panics in the dying embers of matches, but he knows there is a serious concentration issue.

On the brighter side, Elie Youan - probably his most gifted forward player - played 60 minutes for the first time this season and looked vaguely in the mood. The Frenchman is the sort of player that can pull rabbits out of hats. His tricks will be needed in Dingwall, where Hibs land up during the midweek against Ross County. But the last time they were in that neck of the woods, guess what? They conceded a stoppage-time equaliser to draw 2-2. The big problem is not altogether new.

Both capital clubs need cures for their ills, made even clearer by the latest turgid yet absorbing episode of the Edinburgh derby series, but for Gray, he must find it sooner rather than later. Old habits continue to die hard.

- How the players rated at Easter Road