Hearts 1 - Dundee United 0

Before we start, I know that the scoreline above is the wrong way round. I made the mistake with my Pre-Match report and I’m just trying to achieve some consistency. Well, that was a bit of a thriller, culminating with Hearts moving up to 5 points clear and Aberdeen breathing down Dundee’s neck.

It must be said that maybe Mikey Stewart isn’t as useless as I may have suggested this morning, picking up the goal with Andy Driver picking up the assist.

Just before I start the in depth look at the match, can I say that I’ve seen North American Ice Hockey matches less vicious than what I watched today. Two Yellow cards and 4 fouls in less than 5 minutes? Wow.

The first half was a pretty close affair, I believe I stated that it was quote “poor” by the time Half Time rolled around. Hearts had gone with a 4-4-1-1, the formula we all know to be useless. This had put Adrian Mrowiec up front for (I believe) his first start for Hearts. And what a poor start it was > often in the wrong place at the wrong time and regularly having to scramble for the ball. Had he started with an experienced striker (no laughing at the back) next to him up front, he might have showed some promise. That possibility has been tossed out the window how ever after Mrowiec was stretchered off during the second half (this would normally lead to some criticism of an SFA employee but I’m saving that for last). Aside from this, it was fairly even. Hearts couldn’t break the Arabs defence and Dundee United couldn’t get the ball past the golden hands of Janos Balogh. What must be said though was the Hearts continued to look weak in the air with the Tangerine’s winning most of, if not all of the headers. This is something that must be worked on.

The second half was better. Hearts were regularly getting the ball forward and pushing the Arab defence back. Eventually, these relentless assaults led to a goal with Mikey Stewart hammering a shot along the ground straight at the Dundee United keeper…before trying again and putting it in the back of the net. It was at this point that things got worrying - Hearts fell back into the same groove that they had in the Aberdeen and St. Mirren games, letting the Dundee forwards and midfield hit them again and again, only just getting the ball away. This kept happening right up until full time. It was during this horrifying 20 minutes or so that Dundee United won a very suspicious looking penalty (I must admit I was praying that the linesman would take it away, wouldn’t you?). Sandanza (those at the match will know him as the overgrown ball boy wearing the tangerine) went for the bottom left corner and Balogh made the diving save. Say what you want about the rest of the Hearts organisation, but you cannot doubt that there are a safe pair of hands between the posts. It must be said that any advice John Robertson gave to the Dundee United strikers was pretty useless - either Robbo’s getting senile, or he told the Arab’s strikers that the goal was in fact 12 feet higher than they thought it was.

The Ref was (as usual) poor, (maybe I should rename the blog “Ref Haters R’ Us”?). There was the dodgy penalty decision for a start. Even from the other end of the park I could see that “Ball Boy” Sandanza had something cheeky in mind. There was also the issue with Mrowiec in the 2nd Half. After receiving his injury, he fell and lay on the ground (as you do) and the Referee failed to see this, allowing Dundee Utd to play on. It was not until after the Hearts players, fans and manager were screaming at the referee to stop play, that Mr. Smith almost tripped over Mrowiec. It was at this point that the Referee decided to stop play and allow Adrian Mrowiec to be stretchered off. I can understand that Referees can miss things (Scottish Refs more than others) but the time it took for Mr. Smith to realise that there was a genuinely injured player on the pitch was stupid. Maybe should have looked at the patch on his arm and taken its advice?

This is a piece of criticism for Dundee United and the organisation that runs it: Demolish the “Fairplay” Stand and start again. It is badly designed and is not suitable for the number of fans that it is expected to hold. I think the biggest problem is that from where I was sitting (which was front row of the second tier, about half way along) was that I was not able to see a large portion of the pitch because of the stand, a load of scaffolding and a member of the Tayside Police force. Also the toilets are too small, but it’s mostly the stand issue. How can I be expected to enjoy a match when I need X-Ray vision to see half of what’s going on!?!?! As a fellow fan once said (today in fact), “Dundee United couldn’t organise a booze up in a brewery”.

Here’s today’s match facts courtesy of the BBC:

Dundee Utd: Zaluska, Kovacevic, Wilkie, Dods, Grainger (Dixon 71), Caddis, Buaben, Gomis, Wesolowski (Conway 65), Feeney (Daly 77), Sandaza.
Subs Not Used: McGovern, Dillon, David Robertson, Shala.

Booked: Caddis, Feeney, Kovacevic, Conway.

Hearts: Balogh, Neilson, Jonsson, Karipidis, Lee Wallace, Obua, Palazuelos, Stewart, Driver, Aguiar, Mrowiec (Cesnauskis 83).
Subs Not Used: Kello, Mikoliunas, Thomson, Elliot, McGowan, Husband.

Booked: Lee Wallace, Neilson.

Goals: Stewart 62.

Att: 8,529

Ref: E Smith.

My favorite quote overheard at the match: “Get back in your box Levein!”

My Man of the Match: Janos Balogh for countless stunning saves and saving a Dundee United penalty.

A Very Happy Believer

Whoops! Forgot to do a post-match report. I imagine everyone knows what’s happened. But here’s some bullet points of what happened:

• Average game, Hearts dominated
• M. Stewart was very poor, should not have started for Hearts. He was eventually subbed for Miko.
• Miko was fantastic when he came back on again for Hearts, helping to get Hearts first goal from Jonsson (despite making a hash of an Obua cross which would have been the winner)
• Hearts fell back to defensive style, unable to get the ball up the pitch and away from St. Mirren, leading to a Buddies goal in injury time.
• Referee was an absolute numpty, clearly not knowing the rules for corners or throw-ins, making a hash of both of them through out the match.
• Glen received a head injury and was subbed at Half - Time and Kingston was stretchered off after injuring his hamstring again.

So, in other words: it was poor, Stewart was the worst, Miko should play again, the referee was an idiot…but Hearts stay in 3rd.

On a lighter note, when you see the gaffer jumping up and down and shaking his fists, should we be worried? It can sometimes be entertaining to have a glance at Csaba during a Match, he’s often doing something odd.

By Jove! I think they’ve got it! A stunning 2-1 win over the Dons and a fantastic effort from the Jambos!

Aberdeen scored first 19 minutes in and it was pretty close up till then, Aberdeen getting the lucky break when they took the lead.Now in the past, the Jambo’s would normally capitulate/give up/roll over and die. But not today! They thundered back and dominated the second half resulting in an equalizer from Christian Nade 1 minute before HT. This didn’t stop in the second half either. Hearts were quiet willing to kick the Dons when they were down. Hearts pushed and pushed and Andy Driver headed in the winner after 66 minutes (which FINALY shut up the noisy Dons fans).

The domination continued until the 80th minutes when things got a little scary and Aberdeen began one last-ditch attempt to equalize. The closest they got was hitting the post and Balogh nabbing it before an Aberdeen striker could lay his feet on it. With 5 minutes left, Hearts could have scored again with Aberdeen looking shell shocked but they chose to waste time (resulting in a couple of bookings).

The refereeing in this match was almost as terrible as last week. Aberdeen players could have sharpened the studs on their boots and carried swords and gotten away with it. As one person behind me pointed out: “Are you getting payed by the foul?” in reference to the Dons going down easy. It also struk me as odd when 5 Aberdeen players were “injured” whenever Hearts reached the Don’s box. Coincidence? I think not, but Aberdeen players are clearly very brittle.

It’s not all good news though. Despite a great game from the JT’s they were still prone to sloppy mistakes and a reluctance to shoot the ball. I also think that Mikey Stewart should probably give the next few games a miss. He’s becoming to reluctant to get stuck in with the tackles and often hesitates, dancing round the opposition rather than trying to get the ball. Obua is becoming a waste of space as well. His style of “clever” and “tricky” play does not suit the Scottish game. As soon as Miko gets better, he needs to replace either Stewart or Obua and maybe giving Chesney a start.

On a related note, Mike Tulberg (who was supposed to be back this week) will supposedly return next week for the match against St. Mirren. How long has he been out? I can’t honestly remember when he last played for Hearts. Maybe he’s the miracle Hearts have been waiting for though. It will hopefully create some competition amongst Nade, Glen and Tulberg for regular starts for Hearts. It could be beneficial having more Strikers than we actually need, much like the goalie situation - they play above and beyond the call of duty, knowing that they might not be playing in the next match.

My man of the match is Janos Balogh for some stunning goalkeeping

Match Facts courtesy of the BBC:

Hearts: Balogh, Neilson, Karipidis, Jonsson, Lee Wallace, Obua, Stewart, Aguiar, Driver, Glen (Palazuelos 81), Nade (Mrowiec 90).
Subs Not Used: MacDonald, Cesnauskis, Thomson, Elliot, Templeton.

Booked: Nade, Stewart.

Goals: Nade 45, Driver 66.

Aberdeen: Langfield, Foster, Diamond, Severin, Mulgrew, Young (Considine 76), Kerr, Duff (Maguire 76), Vidal, Miller, Mackie (Wright 79).
Subs Not Used: Bossu, Stewart, Paton, Pawlett.

Booked: Foster.

Goals: Mackie 20.

Att: 15,049

Ref: C Richmond

A very happy Believer

Douglas MacDonald Please Resign Immediately

It’s not often I blame the referee for an entire match, normally he’s one in a long line of reasons. But after this travesty, Dougie “Hibernian” MacDonald tops the list. Even the Scotsman stated that there was a “sub-standard display of refereeing”. If you hadn’t already worked it out, Hearts lost 1-0 to the Bairns in a terrible Match which Hearts honestly deserved to win.

Throughout the 1st half, Hearts were showing some fantastic football (maybe with the exception of Mikey Stewart) and were very unlucky with some of their shots and were hindered slightly by MacDonald failing to give some bad fouls recognition, which culminated in a Bairns winger slipping and Driver receiving a yellow. Glen got extraordinarily close with a good pass from Neilson. The Falkirk keeper made an amazing save, I’ll give him that. Mikey Stewart really should have been subbed at half-time to be honest. He was messing up passes and was just getting frustrated.

The second half wasn’t quite the same. Both teams were closely matched and fairly poor to be honest. Although Falkirk were consistently better in the air and won about 90% of the headers. Falkirk scored and that was about it really, things went down hill again. It was thought they scored again but the Shed-side linesman (who had little to do) got it right and called offside. And now the moment that even got me demanding blood. MacDonald called a penalty in Hearts favour WITH OUT HESITATION. It was only after Pressely consulted with the Linesman that MacDonald changes his mind and took the penalty away again. The only time I’ve ever (and I mean EVER) seen this at a match before was the draw against Aberdeen a couple of months ago. It was all downhill from then and nothing really of note happened. All that should be mentioned is that Marius Zaliukas was framed and sent off again when he was brought down by a diving Falkirk man. If MacDonald does not rescind his decision, then I will be demanding blood from the SFA. Even Csaba agrees with me over the terrible quality of MacDonald’s decisions (not in so many words, but the point is still there) when he stated: “It’s clear we don’t have offsides anymore”. Thank You Laszlo Csaba.

Anyway, Hearts deserved to win and this was another match showing the world how terrible the Scottish referees are. It’s not just an Old Firm vs Everyone else thing anymore after Strachan and Smith made comments about the ref’s aswell. When will the SFA wake up and smell the rubbish that’s right under their noses? Seriously, WE NEED NEW REFEREES!!!! Bring in some from England or the continent or whatever. Or at least some that are firm in their convictions and aren’t going to change their mind after a bunch of whining skin-heads start complaining about a call that went the oppositions way. There, that’s my rant over.

For the Love of God MacDonald, do everyone a favour and resign!

What does this all mean now? Well, if Hearts can keep the standard of play they had in this match in future matches, then we might be alright. Hearts are now out of the cup and Falkirk move on and will probably get knocked out as well. The SFA need’s to seriously rethink it’s policy over referees and Zaliukas needs to have his red card taken back. Hearts need to start winning again (well, duh!) and start winning well with a scoreline of more than one goal. Forgetting the score line and the !)&”*$*(£^_*!^ referee’s, let me be the first to say “More of the same please!”

Below are the line-ups, scorers and bookings, courtesy of the BBC:

Hearts: Balogh, Neilson, Zaliukas, Karipidis, Lee Wallace, Obua, Aguiar, Stewart, Driver, Glen (Elliot 66), Jonsson (Kingston 61). Subs Not Used: Kello, Thomson, Mrowiec.

Sent Off: Zaliukas (82).

Booked: Driver, Stewart.

Falkirk: Dani Mallo, Bullen, Pressley, Barr, McNamara (Cregg 87), Arfield, Riera (Finnigan 56), McCann (O’Brien 87), Holden, Lovell, Higdon. Subs Not Used: Olejnik, Stewart.

Sent Off: Arfield (90).

Booked: Arfield, Riera, Finnigan, McCann, Pressley, Higdon.

Goals: Lovell 59.

An Angry Believer whose out for Blood

…Not very good at all. Hearts were beaten (maybe routed ist the better word) 2-0 by little upstarts Hamilton who extend their terrific form. Hamilton were all over the JT’s for almost all of the 90 minutes knocking in two goals and making Hearts look generally silly.

If any blame is going  to put anywhere, I’d put on the defence (not that the rest of the team were really much better). First, although MacDonald is a good young goalie, he hasn’t had the regular experience that Balogh has had and it appears his experience was missed today. The back 4 will have had their issues as well. Only Neilson and Wallace have had any regular first team appearances with Zaluikas and Jonsson filling in the gaps when they appeared. Not having Berra probably hurt, and the new defensive set up will need some time to gel, but this should get better over time.

This match is probably another in a long list of arguments for changing the set up of the squad. The 4-5-1 formation allows for dominance of the midfield and quick movement of the ball up into the opposition’s area. However, we only have one experienced striker to feed the ball to and he has a tendency to hang back a bit while the whole team have a reluctance th shoot the ball. We need a new striker with two up front, possibly working with the classic 4-4-2.

Their is some minor consolation (if you like that sort of thing). Our two main contenders for the European spot both lost today: Rangers 2-o Dundee United, Falkirk 1-0 Aberdeen with Hibs only scraping a draw with Motherwell. S0, even though Hearts suffered a bad loss today, the table stays much the same as far as Hearts are concerned.

With it looking likely that the captain will be leaving for pastures new, down at Wolverhampton, Hearts are going to need to work extraordinarily hard in the next couple days to sign in a striker, and maybe a replacement for Berra. If Berra does go, Csaba apparently has someone in mind: “I have one player, a very talented player, who is an international with his country, played Champions League and UEFA Cup and is 23 years old”

Maybe we could somehow label Vlad with the blame, as he decided to show his face at the match after arriving in Edinburgh for transfer talks. Maybe he jinxed it? You decide.

The next match is in a week against Falkirk in the 5th Round of the Scottish Cup at Tynecastle. Lets hope Csaba and the gang can get it together for then.

Scorers: Mensing 11, pen 52