Pat Fenlon dedicated Hibernian's dramatic William Hill Scottish Cup defeat of Hearts to the supporters who had suffered after the humiliation of last season's final in May at Hampden.
David Wotherspoon's 82nd-minute shot took a massive deflection off Marius Zaliukas to knock the holders out of the cup and give Hibs their first derby win in 13 attempts since May 2009. Fenlon was jubilant at full time but soon put the win in perspective, saying that beating Hearts in the fourth round could not atone for losing 5-1 to them in the final.
"It's not about revenge, it's about taking the steps to rebuild the club back to where we should be," said the Easter Road manager. "What today does is give people belief. Last season we would have lost that game, no doubt about it. We don't look like losing too many matches at the moment. I'm delighted for the supporters. It's a great day for the Hibs supporters and it's long overdue. It was a scrappy enough game and Hearts shaded parts of it. But you take the good fortune when it comes.
"A few minutes from the end at Hampden the Hibs end was empty, that was disappointing and I totally understood that. It was great to see them enjoying themselves today and having smiles on their faces. There were 17,000 here and there were 12,000-12,500 when we played them in the first league game, so that's a big jump in our support."
Top scorer Leigh Griffiths was stretchered off with an ankle injury but re-emerged to join the celebrations at full time. Fenlon said the club would only learn the extent of his injury today.
Hearts are expected to meet today's deadline to settle an outstanding £450,000 debt to Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs and remove the threat of a winding-up order.
"The priority is that the football club survives," said manager John McGlynn. "We have to make sure that the financial battle we have on our hands is the one we win."
Hearts have scored only one goal in four games and McGlynn said it was a problem the club did not have the resources to address: "The lack of goals is an issue. We need to strengthen in that department and it's obviously not doable in the current situation. We are absolutely gutted. As the holders of the cup you don't want to lose it."
hibernian 1 hearts 0 Manager delighted by 'long overdue' result as they knock out cup holders
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