On the 30th March 2014, Hibernian came to Tynecastle with a chance to do the unthinkable: send Hearts down to the Championship. Of course, their fans took full advantage of this and coined the now infamous phrase ‘relegation party’. They turned up in full party mode, with blow up palm trees, party hats and even balloons to really try and rub it in over their rivals. As many of you know, what happened both on that day and in the weeks and months and even years after became perhaps the funniest ever ‘oops moment.’
Hearts hadn’t had their troubles to seek in the 2013/14 season, with Lithuanian Vladimir Romanov really throwing the club to the wolves, which resulted in a fifteen point deduction before a ball was kicked. On top of this, the club were placed under a transfer embargo and forced to simply use youth players who, in many cases, were simply not ready to play in top level games. There were only three contracted players over the age of 21; midfielder Ryan Stevenson, Goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald and attempted footballer/professional arsehole Jamie Hamill.
The young team fought valiantly against the impending, inescapable doom of relegation and managed to survive until around April time before succumbing to the drop, which was later than many had expected.
Onto the game, and Hearts were clearly aware of the ramifications, and they took the lead after just seven minutes through Dale Carrick. The place exploded in all but one of the stands, as that familiar feeling came over those that were there for a party. Hibs came into the game on a two game losing streak, and their fans had saw this high-stakes fixture as a way to ignite their season and drive up the table.
The game itself was fairly even, with both sides coming close following the goal, but the break arrived with the score locked at 1-0.
In the second half, Hibs should have equalised through Jordon Forster who headed beyond MacDonald, but hilariously the linesman raised his flag for offside, despite replays showing that the Hibs defender was at least five yards onside.
Former Hearts man Alan Maybury got his marching orders in the final minute for taking out Sam Nicholson as he looked to breakaway, with the visitors really piling on the pressure.
Hibs committed men forward in search of an equaliser late on, and Hearts took full advantage of having an extra man to almost take the roof off the stadium. A slick counter attack led by Ryan Stevenson left youngster Billy King in on goal and he was the calmest man inside Tynecastle as he took the ball round the goalkeeper and fired it into the empty net to spark wild scenes on the park, in the dugouts and of course in the stands. All of the pressure of the last few months was gone and had been replaced by utter jubilation for anyone connected with Heart of Midlothian.
And what of Hibs? Well, after their little relegation shin-dig they continued in dire form and were consigned to the relegation playoff, against championship opposition in Hamilton Academical. They won the first leg 2-0 and were confident of beating the drop in the return leg, but that was simply not to be. They lost 0-2 at home to Hamilton, and in the end they were relegated on penalties, which I believe may be known as karma. On top of this, it also took them three years to come back up, with their rivals doing it in just one.
Games of Our Lives 