New man De Vries hits four to humiliate hapless Hibernian

Heart of Midlothian 5 Hibernian 1

"The ladyboys of Bangkok" may be the hottest ticket at the Edinburgh Festival, but the name of Mark De Vries will be still be on everyone's lips long after the thespians and tourists have gone home.

The Dutchman scored four goals on his Tynecastle debut for Hearts to earn a space in the city's derby history and underline a role reversal even the Ladyboys would have been proud of. Hearts went six contests without a win, and though they stopped the rot at Easter Road in March, this rout will be the source of bragging rights for years to come.

"We took a 6-2 doing at Easter Road two season ago, before I arrived at the club," said their manager, Craig Levein, "so this result today was for our fans."

Hibernian never coped with the robust De Vries' height and Levein's side used the long ball to great effect, on a day when torrential rain made the surface a lottery. De Vries had a pivotal role in the opening goal for Andy Kirk after 18 minutes, flicking on a clearance from Antti Niemi into the path of his partner, who lofted the ball over Tony Caig.

Incessant Hearts pressure finally yielded another goal after 40 minutes. A darting run from Jean-Louis Valois ended with him scooping the ball high over the defence for De Vries to rifle a right-foot volley past Caig.

Hibernian were rattled, but responded in the 51st minute when Ian Murray planted Grant Brebner's cross wide of Niemi. An intense search for an equaliser ended, however, when De Vries scored again in 65 minutes. His flick found Valois whose shot was parried by Caig but fell to De Vries to bury the rebound.

Hibernian threw everything in pursuit of salvaging some pride, but it only led to greater humiliation as De Vries struck twice in injury time. The Dutchman controlled Paddy McMullan's pass and glided round Mark Dempsie before lofting his shot over Caig, and then steered in a header from Gary Wales' cross for a finale any artist would be proud of.

Goals: Kirk (18) 1-0; De Vries (40) 2-0; Murray (51) 2-1; De Vries (65) 3-1; De Vries (90) 4-1; De Vries (90) 5-1.

Heart of Midlothian (4-4-2): Niemi; Maybury, Pressley , McKenna, Mahé (McMullan, 60); Boyack, Simmons (Twaddle, 53), Severin, Valois; De Vries, Kirk (Wales, 79). Substitutes not used: McKenzie (gk), Webster.

Hibernian (3-5-2): Caig; Smith, Dempsie, Murray; Orman, Townsley, Arpinon, Jack, O'Neil (Brebner, 11); Luña (Paatelainen, 75), O'Connor (McManus 75). Substitutes not used: Colgan (gk), Fenwick.

Referee: M McCurry.

Bookings: Hearts: Simmons, Twaddle.

Man of the match: De Vries.

Attendance: 15,245.