Hibs and Hearts share two points in first Edinburgh Derby of the season

Hibs and Hearts have shared two points in the first Edinburgh Derby of the season.

The capital’s big two drew 1-1 at Easter Road in the first of three Premiership games on Sunday.

Mykola Kukharevych opened the scoring before teenage Hearts forward James Wilson grabbed an equaliser in the closing stages.

The result leaves Hibs bottom of the Premiership with their city rivals one spot above in 11th.

The away side had most of the possession in the first-half but the best chances fell to Hibs with Dwight Gayle and Lewis Miller both coming close.

Martin Boyle had the best chance of the half with a header but Craig Gordon did well to keep the scores level in the opening stages.

Lawrence Shankland came closest for Hearts but his effort was parried out for a corner by Josef Burisik.

And Kenneth Vargas was put through on goal at the end of the half but Marvin Ekpiteta blocked the shot.

All in all the first 45 lacked any real quality with both teams seeming overly cautious about making a mistake that would put them behind.

Neil Critchley would have been the happiest manager going into the break with his side controlling most of the ball and restricting their rivals’ chances to set-pieces.

But he would have been looking for more in an attacking sense as he looked to make it three wins from three since replacing Steven Naismith in the dugout.

It remained goalless at the break and Hibs came out of the traps the quickest in the second-half and had the first real chance when Boyle put a good ball into the box to Gayle who failed to get as good a connection as he would’ve liked and Gordon made an easy save.

And pressure from the home side paid off on the hour when Kukharevych knocked the ball into the net from close range to make it 1-0 with 25 minutes to go.

Gordon tipped a header on to the crossbar and the Ukrainian forward was first to react to the rebound as he turned it into the net for the all-important opener.

Hearts came close to an equaliser soon after and it looked like the net was going to bulge after the ball fell to Shankland in the box but his shot was inches wide of the post.

Kye Rowles had a header just over the bar soon after as Hibs started to drop deeper and hold on to their lead.

And they were level with five minutes remaining when Wilson slotted home to make it 1-1 after a long throw into the box.

The teenager was quickest to react to a loose ball in the box and he knocked it past Bursik to level the score.

Gordon then pulled off a great save to deny Hibs retaking the lead in injury-time and the ref blew his whistle soon after.