| There is no point in getting over heated even if the game is a derby. Those are the thoughts of Jim Jefferies after he praised his players for keeping their head in Sunday's win over Hibs after tempers flared on and off the pitch. Missiles were thrown at Kevin Kyle and Rudi Skacel towards the end of the 2-0 win at Easter Road and the Czech midfielder was the victim of a challenge by Derek Riordan, which saw the Hibs captain sent off in the closing stages. The SPL will be waiting for their delegate's report from the game with interest and will see the views of the two clubs before deciding whether to impose any sanctions. Recent seasons have seen the SFA impose a number of fines on Hearts for the on-field indiscipline. However, Jefferies was generally pleased with the way his players reacted. He said: "We have had a lot of chats about that and we have things in place to stop that. Kevin was pelted with stuff and reacted by throwing the ball against the boards in frustration because he was nearly hit. He was provoked into that. He has to rise above it, that was a booking we could have done without, but it's not easy in the heat of the moment, especially with the atmosphere the way it was. There was a little bit that went on round about that five-minute spell when there were tackles flying in. Because they knew the game was virtually over, I think one or two just lost it a wee bit. As far as the crowd were concerned, they knew that as well, so that was them having their bit of retaliation." Both sets of fans raised the temperature with visiting fans adding a smoke canister to the the on-field entertainment after David Templeton's brilliant first-half opener. Jefferies, whose team welcome Celtic to Tynecastle on Wednesday night, revealed security manager Keith Hogg had warned everybody not to go near the devices. Jefferies said: "Keith had told us before the game there were canisters that could be there. Marius (Zaliukas) attempted to kick it the first time and I thought he was going to kick it again, but we managed to get word to him not to kick it. We told them beforehand but in the passion of the derby you keep forgetting these things. Fortunately there was no further damage. But in the first derby of the season, with a new manager, there is always going to be something. It's sometimes part of the package, you just hope there is nothing serious. But it was serious enough yesterday. It is a game and there is plenty of passion and banter, which is great, but it shouldn't come to that. Something that gets thrown could easily hurt a player. Nobody wants to change the atmosphere or the taunting but let's make sure we keep things in perspective and don't endanger the players or police or anyone around the ground." |