The Edinburgh derby descended into shocking scenes of disorder and violence on Wednesday night when Hibernian manager Neil Lennon was hit by a coin and Hearts goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal was struck by a fan.
Police Scotland also confirmed they had arrested and charged a 25-year-old man with assaulting an assistant referee during the latest night of shame for Scottish football.
By the end of the game no one was discussing a tempestuous goalless draw. Only a shameful fall-out unlikely to enhance the argument for bringing booze back to Scottish grounds.
In the midst of five minutes of mayhem, visiting striker Florian Kamberi was red carded before a Hibs fan tried to pole axe Zlamal, sending the Hearts keeper collapsing to the ground.
Neil Lennon was standing on the touchline when he was struck by a pound coin thrown from the crowd
Lennon remained on the floor while he was checked by a physio while opposing manager Craig Levein checked up on him
Lennon initially felt his face after he was struck, left, before falling to the floor, right, where he remained for a while
Moments before he was struck, Lennon celebrated wildly while looking at fans when a home goal was ruled offside
In the second minute of injury time Hibs boss Neil Lennon – attacked at the same venue as Celtic manager six years ago – was felled by a pound coin thrown from behind the technical area, his reaction to a Clevid Dikamona Hearts goal being flagged offside tipping one or two halfwits in the home support over the edge.
Lennon later branded the Hearts fan who felled him with the coin a ‘coward’.
The Northern Irishman tumbled to the ground in the technical area after being hit on the chin by the missile.
Insisting he would love to meet his assailant face-to-face, Lennon said: ‘They are cowards at the end of the day. There is no train of thought other than wanting to hurt somebody.
‘It could have been me, it could have been Garry Parker or the fourth official, it could have been any of us.
‘I am really angry about it. I am fizzing about it. Maybe we need tougher punishments. I don’t know what you would call that. Is it assault?
‘It was totally uncalled for. It was cowardly and I have to think of my safety. My jaw is throbbing.
‘At the time, you are stunned and then the adrenaline keeps going, but now it is really sore.
‘You don’t see it coming, you just get the dolt from nowhere. We saw a linesman getting hit by a coin a few weeks ago and it is just totally unacceptable — and it has to stop. ‘It’s just badness. Badness.
‘The referee might have had some missiles thrown at him as well. This should be a showpiece game.
Zdenek Zlamal was left flat out on the floor after the incident with the fan as he tried to retrieve the ball from behind the goal
The goalkeeper is pictured as he was attacked in one of several incidents during a shameful Edinburgh derby
Fans gesticulate at Zlamal with just a single steward in view – which will lead to questions about the policing of the fixture
Hearts goalkeeper Zlamal lies on the ground after an altercation with a Hibernian fan when he went to collect the football
‘It was feisty, it was intimidating, everything you would expect. But if people can’t behave themselves, they should be singled out, embarrassed and humiliated.
‘We are talking about incidents like this when we should be talking about the game. ‘I’m sick of it. Really sick of it, to tell the truth.’
The derby ignited when Kamberi was shown a second yellow for a clash with Oliver Bozanic, followed by a shouting match with Hearts full-back Ben Garuccio.
Minutes later, home keeper Zlamal was punched by a Hibs supporter as he went to retrieve the ball from behind the goal.
Insisting the issues transcend tribalism, Lennon called for the miscreants to be dealt with.
Hibernian’s Martin Boyle (centre) exchanges words with Hearts’ Michael Smith as Clevid Dikamona tries to keep the peace
Referee Andrew Dallas breaks up an argument between Kamberi of Hibernian and Hearts goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal
‘It’s disgraceful,’ he said. ‘I don’t blame the club, you can’t legislate for the hatred of some individuals or the badness. What possesses people to throw things on the football pitch, I will never know.
‘I believe Zlamal was hit as well and it’s just ridiculous.
‘It is unacceptable and, as a club, we can only apologise and hopefully we will deal with the individual. This is a guy just doing his job, providing entertainment and the last thing he needs is someone attacking him. No physical contact is acceptable.
‘I don’t know if he is shaken up or hurt but we, as a club, will hopefully find the perpetrator and deal with him and humiliate him. He is blackening the name of our club and I don’t want that.’
Attacked by Hearts fan John Wilson in May 2011 when Celtic manager, Lennon insisted his reaction to the disallowed goal was taken out of proportion.
He added: ‘Their mode of thinking will be: “He brings it on himself”. Sorry. But that does not wash and that’s why I am angry. And it could have been a lot worse.
‘Why can’t individuals just behave themselves at a football game? It was just mindless. I am lost for words at times.
Kamberi exchanges words with Hearts’ Jimmy Dunne as Australian Ollie Bozanic lies on the ground waiting for attention
Hibernian’s Florian Kamberi is held back by his own team-mate Vykintas Slivka as order breaks down during the match
‘He’ll be full of regret like John Wilson (attacker in 2011) saying: “I’m really sorry, blah, blah, blah.” It’s just not good enough…’
Hearts boss Craig Levein added his voice to the condemnation.
‘Bobby (Zlamal) says someone struck him and it looks like Neil has been hit by a coin. It just saddens me, really,’ he said.
‘Both sets of players are doing well at this moment in time, they don’t want to get beaten, tension is high, aggression is evident throughout the match on the field. But there’s no place for things like that. You can sing and shout and swear all you like, but I got a fright when I saw Lenny on the ground.
‘I hope they catch whoever it was who threw it, it doesn’t matter what team they support, they need to be dealt with.’
There was no real hint of what was to come until Hibs were reduced to ten men when Kamberi charged into a mid-air challenge on Australian Ollie Bozanic. The Swiss under-21 international was unlucky to be shown his first yellow card never mind his second. The challenge didn’t especially merit it. A running battle with Ben Garrucio in the seconds afterwards might have.
Convinced the Hearts left back had gone out of his way to provoke his striker Lennon was incensed by the decision of referee Andrew Dallas to send the striker off and one or two bozos in the Hibs support shared his dismay.
Within four minutes Zlamal, the Hearts goalkeeper, lay prostrate in front of the visiting support.
Trying to restart the play after a harmless shot drifted wide the Hearts goalkeeper had the ball thrown at his groin by a visiting supporter, before another took an apparent swing at the Pole.
Throw in the flares and the pyrotechnics and this was a flammable encounter more suited to Bonfire Night than Halloween. As some of the 19,410 supporters lost their shape events were best viewed through the cracks of the fingers.
The game itself felt incidental in the end. An unremarkable affair.
Hearts manager Craig Levein entered the game with an infantry shortage so grim he almost brought back conscription.
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Steven MacLean served the first game of his two match suspension after the Tynecastle club decided opted against an appeal for the manhandling Celtic’s Eboue Kouassi in an intimate area. Top scorer and talisman Steven Naismith faces two months on the sidelines with a knee problem. Uche Ikpueza and defender John Souttar are out for five months. And captain Christophe Berra won’t be back until the New Year.
Desperate times called for desperate measures and the injury situation at Tynecastle was so desperate Peter Haring – a midfielder – was pushed into attack beside winger Callum Morrison.
It’s a patchy fixture this. One where the thumping tackles and bone shuddering challenges can make the eyes bleed. And Marvin Bartley set the tone for a night of mayhem with a scything, reckless challenge on Haring. Referee Andrew Dallas had a perfect view, but settled for a yellow card. The fact they’d played just 13 minutes had a bearing no doubt. It shouldn’t have.
Hearts made the stronger start of the two sides, Olly Lee’s thumping 20 yard striker pushed wide by Hibs keeper Adam Bogdan. Bartley’s no holds barred tackle whipped the wind from the Hearts sails. It might be a coincidence, but the game seemed to change instantly.
Hibs seemed to wake up. They began creating chances, playing the football.
At the heart of their invention was Stephen Mallan; a footballer in a game of anything but.
The red card showed to Hibernian’s Kamberi appeared to spark rising tensions both on the pitch and in the stadium stands
Kamberi is urged to calm down by his own team-mates after being sent off for clattering Dunne to the ground
Police attempt to keep order as fans of Hibernian and Hearts exchange heated words across the stands and flares are ignited
Signed from Barnsley, the former St Mirren midfielder offers different attributes to John McGinn. On nights like this, where craft and creativity are as rare as a show of contrition from Steven MacLean, that’s no bad thing.
With nine goals already this season Mallan came to within inches of number ten when he cracked a superb, vicious dipping strike from 20 yards onto the crossbar with Hearts keeper Zdenek Zlamal flailing to get there.
Embarassed by Celtic’s second goal in Sunday’s Betfred League Cup exit, people kept a close eye on the Hearts keeper for collateral damage here and Mallan, in particular, seemed hellbent on testing the Pole to the full.
Presented with a free-kick in his ideal range moments later the ball dipped inches wide of the postage stamp corner. The Edinburgh derby isn’t noted for it’s flowing football. What creativity there was came from Hibs, Mallan’s set-piece menace posing real problems. He was into everything.
He topped off a heck of an opening half hour by forcing Zlamal to scramble across his line. Expecting a free-kick towards a crowded back post a cheeky effort went towards the other side instead.
Banked away to the other side of the ground in the Roseburn Stand the HIbs support lapped it all up. Hearts fans settled into a pensive silence.
Dikamona has a late shot which comes off the crossbar, the closest Hearts came to scoring on a dramatic night
There were no easy answers for Craig Levein. Harry Cochrane and Craig Wighton offered some invention on the bench. Yet as Haring galloped around up front, throwing his body into lost causes it was clear what Hearts lacked most. A natural goalscorer.
Hibs lost one of their own when the game entered five minutes of hot-headed insanity.
Booked for persistent fouling in the first half Kamberi’s mid-air coming together with Ollie Bozanic was a dubious reason to send him off. An unwise, heated spat with Ben Garrucio seems the likelier explanation for a dismissal which incensed Neil Lennon.
Hearts boss Craig Levein was more sanguine.
‘He’s on a yellow card, he’s very aggressive in his challenge. He runs the risk, doesn’t he? I think it was a second yellow card.
‘Both sets of players competed really well tonight, they just forgot that football was the name of the game. It became one of those ones that will get locked away in a bottom drawer of derbies that you instantly forget.’
Some chance. The response of the Hibernian manager to Dikamona’s disallowed goal seconds into four minutes of injury time was too much for some. Attacked by a Hearts supporter in the same dug-out as manager of Celtic BT Sport pictures showed a coin striking the Northern Irishman’s cheek, anger turning to alarm as he fell to the deck holding his face.
There may not be a government summit this time. Yet the repercussions of a night of high emotion on Gorgie Road, you sense, will be felt for weeks.
Hibernian manager Lennon was able to walk off at full time despite being hit in the head with a missile in the closing stages