NEW Year, same old story in the Edinburgh derby.

A banner emblazoned with the digits "19.5.12" reminded visiting Hibernian fans of the date of Hearts' greatest-ever derby triumph, but while "3.1.15" may never have the same ring to it, in its own quiet way this match deserves its own place in the annals of the fixture.

Forget about the Scottish Cup, this may go down as the day Hearts paved the way for a Championship title win by eliminating their city rivals from the hunt.

Hibs had won the New Year derby as 2014 commenced, a 2-1 victory at Easter Road, but that is the exception which proves the rule, their only victory in the last eight meetings between the teams.

Instead, Alan Stubbs' side, just as they had done in October, played much of the football, and took a deserved early lead, only for a stunning individual strike to preserve Hearts' unbeaten run. Jamie Walker's 40th-minute equaliser wasn't quite as spectacular as Alim Ozturk's injury-time effort back in October, but it wasn't far off it.

It all means Hearts have negotiated their first 19 matches unbeaten, with only Welsh Premier League outfit The New Saints for company on mainland Britain. On the face of it, this was two points dropped in the title race, but with Rangers in disarray and Hibs still 19 points back the league remains Hearts to lose.

Stubbs had included Martin Boyle, the winger on-loan from Dundee, in his match squad but fielded an unchanged starting line-up from the side which lorded it over Rangers last week. There was a compliment towards them when Hearts fielded Morgaro Gomis, Miguel Pallardo and Prince Buaben in central midfield, sending out the signal that they would be content with a point.

As it turned out, this would be quite a day for Jason Cummings, a product of Tynecastle High School, who briefly considered a career in gardening after the blow of being released by his boyhood heroes Hearts in 2012.

This was roughly the same time as he was attending the 5-1 Scottish Cup final rout against their city rivals, photos capturing him using his fingers and thumb to gesture, Eilidh Child-like, about the scoreline, but his personal story came full circle after 24 minutes of play yesterday.

After a perfect cross from Scott Allan found him lurking near the six-yard box, he guided in a neat left-foot finish, earning a booking from referee Steven McLean for milking his first Edinburgh derby goal to the full in front of the home fans.

"I've been waiting for that moment ever since they let me go as a kid," Cummings said afterwards. "But I should have put the second chance away as well because the deliveries were brilliant."

The second opening which Cummings was referring to was a somewhat mistimed far-post header from an excellent Lewis Stevenson cross, which bounced narrowly wide of the upright. It was a spurned opportunity which the visitors would soon regret.

For all his creativity and mastery of the ball, Allan can still appear lackadaisical in defence, and the 23-year-old was unable or unwilling to prevent Walker wriggling past him before lashing in a right-foot shot which veered sweetly into Mark Oxley's top corner for the equaliser.

Walker too earned a booking for his celebrations, which involved running along the touchline in front of the visiting support, but it is unlikely the caution spoiled his night too much.

"It is probably the best goal I have ever scored and I'm just delighted it brought the boys a point" said Walker. "I was just a bit over-excited with my celebration.

"Can we stay unbeaten? I think we have the talent and the ability within the team to do so. But there are still an awful lot of hard games to go.

"We go to face Rangers at Ibrox in a couple of weeks and we also have to return to face Hibs at Easter Road, so there are tough places left to visit. No-one at this club will start celebrating anything until it is mathematically impossible for us to be caught in the league." It was a blow for Hibs when David Gray was unable to re-appear for the second period, the left-sided Callum Booth trying manfully to adjust to his role on the right.

Another blow to their hopes followed soon after when referee Stevie McLean waved aside their penalty claims after Miguel Pallardo collided with Danny Handling in the box. And for all the tidiness of his link-up work, too often Dominique Malonga, soon to depart for Africa Cup of Nations duty with Congo, never looked likely to get on the end of the multitude of crosses which came in his direction.

But the visitors' game pursuit of the goal that would have breathed life into their title ambitions continued to the death. Callum Paterson headed off the goal line from a Booth drive, then substitute Boyle was just out of reach from another Booth cross.

Both teams seemed reasonably content when the final whistle sounded, something of a novelty itself in these kind of games. But it was surely the home manager who was happier. "I thought it was a great point for us," said Robbie Neilson.

"It keeps the unbeaten run going. It was a difficult game because Hibs had to win to get their title chance running again so for us to take a point was good. You want to win every game, but sometimes a point will do."

The bad news for the rest of the league is that Hearts may be about to get stronger still.

"I have said all along if there is anybody out there who will add value to the team and who is within our budget then we will do it," Neilson said. "We have Osman [Sow] Soufian [El Hassnouai] and Dale [Carrick] to come back, but I would like to bring a striker in if I can."