It can't get any better for Hibs As Rangers lose more ground, Easter Road side pass their derby test with flying colours Hearts supporters were angry before the game at the way their best players were regularly being transferred out of the club. Now

Hibs' run of success, which nobody predicted, and nobody expected to last, goes on.

Certainly when they look back over the season the Easter Road support will realise they won't get many better days than this.

On the morning of the game manager Alex McLeish revealed he wanted to extend his contract at the club, in the afternoon Rangers lost ground on them as they were defeated by St Johnstone and in the evening they comprehensively beat their oldest rivals by 6-2.

It may not have been as comprehensive as their famous 7-0 win over Hearts back in 1973, but it was pretty darned close.

Oh, and to add to the Hibs' feel good factor, they had an actor and actress who are currently in their own respective top Hollywood movies supporting them from the director's box.

Even Dougray Scott, who was in Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise and Kelly MacDonald, who was in Trainspotting and a string of other big-name movies seemed enthralled by events on the night that Hibs came of age.

The game was a real test of Alex McLeish's team character and they passed with flying colours.

In past seasons they may have buckled after losing a fourth minute goal tucked away well by Andy Kirk, but instead showed real resilience to win through a Mixu Paatelainen hat trick and other goals from David Zitelli, Russell Latapy, and man of the match John O'Neil.

No doubt this was a game in which the usual suspects, Russell Latapy, Franck Sauzee and Paatelainen will grab the headlines, but make no mistake this was John O'Neil's match and he capped it with a fine goal.

He quietly went about his business and kept the Hibs midfield together particularly in the crucial stage of the game when they lost Matthius Jack in 38 minutes through injury, his place being taken by Lyndon Andrews, who has been very much a fringe player at Easter Road.

Faced with the added responsibility O'Neil calmed things down well and dictacted the way the home side played spraying passes all over the place.

Certainly his side had controlled the first half apart from the early minutes when Andy Kirk put Hearts ahead. It was a scrappy affair with Steve Fulton putting in a low cross which bobbled along the penalty area and hit off Hibs defender Gary Smith before the young Northern Ireland internationalist latched onto the ball to hit it high behind Nick Colgan.

Despite his side having the lead Hearts coach Jim Jefferies seemed as animated and agitated as I have have ever seen him and it became clear as the half progressed why he seemed on edge.

His side sat back too much, despite his protestations for them to come out more and take the game to Hibs and he will be furious that the goal seemed to inspire the home side more than his team.

Certainly apart from those first five minutes the Easter Road side took control of the whole game and ran out easy winners. If anything they were guilty of being too intricate in their passing moves which looked lovely to watch but lacked any killer touch, at least in the early stages of the game.

Certainly up until they equalised three minutes from half-time they had had enough chances to win more than just one game. Mixu Paatelainen squandered two good opportunities while Russell Latapy failed to hit the target after being put through by an exquisite ball along the ground from Frenchman David Zitelli.

However, their biggest culprit was midfielder Stewart Lovell who latched onto a rebound off the body of Hearts goalkeeper Antti Niemi only to sky the ball into the stand.

For all that, Hearts occas-ionally looked dangerous down the flanks and Gordon Durie brought out a fine save from Colgan after Hibs defender Gary Smith was caught in possession.

When the first two goals came for Hibs they were simple affairs and both from the ample frame of Paatelainen, who had had an earlier effort chalked off after he clearly pushed Steven Pressley in the box.

His first came in 42 minutes when a Latapy cross was flicked into his path by Lovell and he had the simplest of jobs to blast the ball home.

Two minutes later and it was a scrappy effort which put Hibs ahead. Zitelli took a corner which Pressley headed up in the air and from the bundle of players in the Hearts box Paatelainen appeared to stab the ball home.

Any hopes Hearts had of salvaging anything from the game died as early as 51 minutes when Zitelli put the outcome beyond doubt. It was Latapy who started the move in finding Paatelainen, who played a superb pass for Zitelli to run onto in the box and although Niemi managed to check the momentum of the ball it still had enough on it to run into the empty net.

Hearts did put up some token resistance soon after and Durie did create some openings, but overall they were fighting a lost cause. The double substitution of the ineffectual Robert Tomaschek and goalscorer Andy Kirk who were replaced by Darren Jackson and Gary McSwegan made no difference to the pattern of play.

In 74 minutes Paatelainen capped a fine performance when he turned in a Lovell cross to make it four then O'Neil got his deserved goal to make it five before Latapy set the seal on a famous Hibs victory with a goal two minutes from time after great work once again by O'Neil.

Hearts did get a consolation goal in the last minute from Colin Cameron, but by that time the majority of their supporters had been so disgusted by their team's performance they had left the ground.

Next league matches: Hibs - Dundee United (a); Hearts - St Johnstone (h).

Talking Point