FANS have debated it for years – now it's your chance to help us decide once and for all.
Which is the greatest game your team has ever played?
It's day three in our quest to find Hearts and Hibs' most memorable 90 minutes as we look back at classic matches involving the Capital clubs, selected by the Evening News.
Once all five ma
tch choices have been revealed, we'll print details of how you can vote for your team's most greatest match. Did your proudest moment come during a glorious Cup final victory? Or did a thumping derby win bring you more joy?
The choice is yours.
Once all the votes are in, we'll reveal which two games are considered the greatest by you the fans.
And all readers who vote will enter a prize draw to win either a new Hearts or Hibs shirt signed by the current team.
HEARTS 5, HIBS 1
Scottish Premier League
11 August, 2002ON his first start for Hearts, Mark de Vries achieved iconic status amongst the club's supporters with a four-goal haul against Hibs.
The Surinam-born striker arrived as a relative unknown from FC Dordrecht in summer 2002 but, after a substitute appearance at Dundee on the opening day of the season, quickly set about making a name for himself the following weekend.
He became the first Hearts player to score a hat-trick or more in the Premier League against Hibs and the first to find the back of the net four times on his first start. All in all, not a bad way to endear yourself to a new public.
Andy Kirk lobbed Hibs goalkeeper Tony Caig for the opening goal on 18 minutes, and thereafter it was the De Vries show. Jean-Louis Valois, who was in sensational form all afternoon, gathered possession on the left and meandered inside to clip a precise cross over the visiting defence to De Vries, who chested down and drove home his first goal. Ian Murray nodded a Grant Brebner cross beyond Antti Niemi after the interval to reduce the deficit by half, but De Vries could not be deterred.
He restored his side's two-goal lead after Caig repelled a Valois drive. His hat-trick arrived in the 90th minute when Paul McMullan picked him out in the box and, after side-stepping Mark Dempsie, he lifted the ball over the advancing Caig
Just when it seemed the adulation could not get any more fervent, De Vries added his fourth. Gary Wales was the provider after a weak clearing header from Gary Smith, his cross allowing De Vries to head the ball back across Caig and into the far corner of the net.
Although regarded as a hero evermore for his exploits at Tynecastle that day, De Vries maintains his performance level was actually sub-standard, saying: "Everyone still talks about the first game I played against Hibs. I've watched it a few times and if you look at it critically you'll see I didn't have the best game. Because of the goals I scored, everyone forgot I'd had a bad game."
Hearts: Niemi, Maybury, Pressley, McKenna, Mahe (McMullan 61), Simmons (Twaddle 54), Severin, Boyack, Valois, De Vries, Kirk (Wales 80). Subs not used: McKenzie, Webster.
Hibs: Caig, Orman, Gary Smith, Dempsie, Murray, O'Neil (Brebner 12), Townsley (Paatelainen 77), Jack, Arpinon, Luna, O'Connor (McManus 78). Subs not used: Colgan, Fenwick.
The full article contains 577 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
