Neilson aims to make sour derbies sweet

ROBBIE NEILSON admits he revelled in the ugly side of Edinburgh derbies as a player but hopes to play his part in making this season’s meetings with Hibs as attractive as possible.

Neilson believes the style of passing football both he and rival Alan Stubbs intend to feature this season can survive the tension and tantrums that are synonymous with the fixture as they collide for the first time today.

The Hearts manager contested the last of his capital clashes in 2009 when, predictably, the match was settled on an incident of indiscipline.

Derek Riordan converted a penalty with 11 minutes remaining to give Hibs a 1-0 win after Hristos Karipidis was dismissed for a professional foul.

‘There were a few times that football broke out in those games but not often,’ said former defender Neilson. ‘I usually managed to stop it. That’s the way the derby games were.

‘But we’ve got Hearts and Hibs wanting to play attractive football this season so, hopefully, this will be a good game to watch.’