From a neutral’s point of view, this must have been one hell of a cup tie.
Both sides were intent on playing attacking football right from the off, and we also had the added bonus of Motherwell being backed by a large travelling support, no doubt boosted by the recent tragic death of their captain Phil O’Donnell. Their excellent turnout, which almost completely filled the Roseburn Stand (around 3,500), helped to generate a good, old-fashioned cup-tie atmosphere, and the players ultimately ended up fighting out a very entertaining draw, which was probably just about the right result overall.
As we had been informed in the run-up to the match, the Motherwell players went into a silent huddle just before kick-off in front of their supporters in respect to O’Donnell. It had been suggested that the whole stadium would go silent as well while they did this, but instead the claret and amber masses roared their appreciation of O’Donnell during the huddle, with the home support following suit. It was a poignant and fitting tribute to a talented player.
Hearts started the match in a similar style to that of the second half performance against Kilmarnock last week that had so helped to lift the spirits inside Tynecastle.
Andy Driver was back in the starting line-up and for the first in quite a few weeks showed the form that had people linking him with a big money move elsewhere.
It was from his good work that the first real chance of the match was created, with Andrius Velicka hooking a right foot shot just wide of the post after Driver had carved out an opening just inside the penalty area.
Hearts continued to play quick football on the ground and within minutes they had the lead. An excellent flowing move ended with Audrius Ksanavicius getting in behind the ‘Well defence and his left-foot cutback was buried on the volley by Deividas Cesnauskas from around 12 yards. It was one of the best ‘team’ goals that Hearts had scored this season and it was nice to see Cesnauskas marking his return to the side in this fashion.
Motherwell did respond quite well to the blow of losing the opening goal, but aside from a free-kick by McCormack that was uncomfortably palmed away by Kurskis, they never seriously threatened the Hearts goal.
Half time 1-0
Hearts continued to look the more dangerous of the two sides, particularly as the gaps in the Motherwell defence were widening due to the Steelmen throwing more and more players into attacking positions.
After 52 minutes Velicka appeared to have put the tie out of Motherwell’s reach when he scored a second for the home side. A long through ball that initially looked to be overhit was poorly dealt with by Motherwell’s hesitant central defence, and Velicka showed great opportunism to nip in, draw the goalkeeper and neatly round him to make it 2-0.
Game over? It should have been, but Hearts can’t buy a victory these days and this match had plenty of life left in it yet.
It has to be said that Motherwell responded to being two goals down brilliantly. They continued to try and play football the right way and all of a sudden their midfield took a complete grip on proceedings, with the Hearts central midfield pair of Stewart and Palazuelos really struggling to get any sort of foothold in there at all. Even on the odd occasion that they had the opportunity to break, they were often unable to make progress due to choosing the wrong option at the wrong moment.
Motherwell pulled a goal back just after the hour mark after a fine move completely cut open the Hearts defence. It all started with a misplaced pass by the hapless Neilson giving ‘Well possession back on a plate after Hearts threatened to break forward for a third goal, but from then on Motherwell played an excellent triangular move. Keith Lasley, who was O’Donnell’s replacement on the day and a player I’ve always been impressed with, played a neat pass in behind the defence to McCormack, and he immediately fired it across goal for Chris Porter to slot into the net past the helpless Kurskis. 2-1 and game well and truly on.
The midfield area was now frantic and referee Stuart Dougal was doing his best to allow the visitors the draw that they so badly wanted. He made one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen when he allowed a horrible tackle on Ruben Palazuelos to go unpunished. The tackle was with two feet, from the back and off the ground, yet Dougal and his linesman, both of whom had a perfect view, chose to wave play on and take no action against Palazuelos for diving, which clearly he must have done had it not been a foul. As it was the Spaniard needed treatment for the injury, although Dougal wasn’t happy with this either.
The match continued to rage on though, and with 12 minutes remaining Motherwell got the equaliser, and again it was Porter and McCormack who did the damage. This time the move started down the right, and when McCormack set up Porter in a similar position to where Velicka had fired a first half chance wide, the striker made great contact and sent it across the static Kurskis into the far corner of the net. Wild celebrations in the Motherwell end behind the goal ensued.
Both sides went all out for a winner in the closing stages, with Hearts’ Velicka coming the closest on two occasions. First his seemingly netbound shot was charged down by a defender, and on the rebound, with the goalkeeper on the ground, Mikoliunas proceeded to get in Velicka’s way to prevent him the chance of an open goal. To say the Hearts striker was raging would be a considerable understatement!
Then with five minutes to go, Velicka took the ball past Craigan and fired a deflected shot at goal that spun up into the air…..when it came down it dropped onto the crossbar and to safety for a corner. Velicka had actually been fouled by Craigan as he ran through, but a voice inside must have told him to stay on his feet, because there was no way in the world that Hearts were getting a penalty in this game.
So it’s all down to a replay at Fir Park a week on Tuesday now, where Motherwell will undoubtedly be the favourites. It’s certainly not beyond Hearts to go down there and get through of course, but given the run that we are on (10 games without a win now) and the swell of goodwill that’s currently with Motherwell, it’s most certainly going to be an uphill struggle.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Hearts do a little better this time than they did on their last trip to Fir Park on Scottish Cup duty………
Player Ratings
Kurskis 5
No chance with either goal and aside from those, had very little to do. Did flap at a couple of routine crosses, but kicking was quite good.
Neilson 3
Really toiled out there. It was clear from an early stage that Motherwell targetted him as Hearts’ main weakness and most of their dangerous moves came from that area of the park.
Goncalves 4
His athleticism gets him out of trouble sometimes, but generally his positional sense yesterday was terrible, being drawn into the centre all the time. This allowed Motherwell far too much space down the right.
Berra 5
Not the worst game he’s ever had, but he really needs to stop manhandling his man every time he’s defending a set-piece.
Karipidis 4
Last week’s man of the match looked extremely uncomfortable out there, and very often communication between him and Berra was lacking. Slipped a couple of times like he did against Hibs in the first game of the season.
Palazuelos 5
Had a decent first half, but like most games lately he was overrun badly in the second, lacking the necessary dig and competitiveness to stand his ground at times.
Stewart 3
Well off the pace and almost nothing he tried came off. Frustrating afternoon for him.
Driver 6
Very good first half when he was the most dangerous player on the field. Picked up a knock early in second half and was subbed though.
Cesnauskas 6
Another who had an excellent first half, taking his goal brilliantly and showing good feet and crossing ability. Quiet second half.
Ksanavicius 5
Set up the goal nicely and had one sublime pass to Velicka in first half. Still too lightweight though.
Velicka 7
Will be disappointed he didn’t hit the target with first half chance, but took his goal brilliantly in the second and was desperately unlucky not to score the winner on two separate occasions.
Mikoliunas 3
Didn’t do much, apart from getting in Velicka’s way with the goal gaping.
Wallace 4
Had one good run and cross down the left.
Very late sub.
We blew it. 2 up and coasting. Credit to Motherwell though. The difference between their management and ours was again very apparent.
What Rudi said. I completely agree with your rating on Goncalves too, MrH. I was sat in the Wheatfield and watched Goncalves abandon the left side completely on so many occasions… leaving Driver to run the whole left flank on his own. It was a good job that Motherwell were targetting Robbie as if they’d made that switch we would have been destroyed in the first half alone. Good game, and ordinarily would have been happy with the draw, but left the ground feeling utterly sick.
I was actually at the game believe it or not MrH. Robertson Lounge. Your ratings are excellent, particularly for that cock Stewart. I sat and listened to several fans affectionately shouting “go on Mikey”, which really baffles me. He was miles away from an average Motherwell midfield. I’m sick of hearing he’s a good player, he f’ing isn’t! You’ll never get anywhere with players like him. “Oh but he tries hard”, so f’ing what! Gary Locke tried hard….MrH would even try hard! However, the hard working editor of this site would be just as far away from tackling Hughes as Stewart was. There are lots of things that make a player good, and Stewart hasn’t nearly enough of them.
I get the impression that my footballing abilities are being questioned here…..I’m not sure that this is altogether acceptable!!!
But not your analysis skills, which to me seem pretty bang on this time. 🙂
Hmm…questionable……… Have to disagree with Stonesy’s complete slagging of Stewart though – fair comment that he played poorly yesterday, but he has generally been very good this season, much better than the rest for the most part. He does have good ability and can be an asset to Hearts with a strong leader in the dug-out, which is something I think we can all agree is absent at the moment.
You’re totally wrong on that one, trust me.
Have to agree to disagree then. To me he is one of a handful of guys there who can truly play football. It’s his attitude that’s always been questionable, not ability.
I rate Mickey as a player, but yesterday was a poor showing from him.
By the way guys, who is this bloke called “Mickey Poshpisheel” that keeps getting him name read out by Scott Wilson? I’ve never heard of the lad………
He’s the guy who comes on from time to time with 3 minutes to go, too late to do anything useful in the game. No, I don’t know who he is either… I suspect there may be scouts in the ground who do though.
Aye that’s the lad….runs really fast on the spot before he comes on?
Sorry Mr H, have to agree with my bro on the Stewart thing. I’m struggling to think when he has “generally been very good this season” Was it when he, albeit harshly, got stupidly sent off against Gretna, or when he stupidly got sent off against Dundee Utd. Or was it when he tried to score from centre when we went 2-1 down to Motherwell. Yes, his passing at times can be good, but “generally” he has been pi5h this season. He runs about like a headless chicken and doesn’t get anywhere near to tackling players and is a disgrace to the jersey. Eff of back to Easter Road so when I boo and shout at him people around me wont disagree
You’ve chosen to highlight his poorer points this season though, and fair enough they were bad. I’m not saying that the guy is flawless, far from it. But in the games when Hearts have played well he’s been the main man, particularly in the 2-0 at Parkhead and the Rangers game at Tynie. He completely bossed the game against Celtic that night against their first choice midfield, which proves to me that he has what it takes to be effective in this league.
Perhaps it’s simply an indication of how far we’ve fallen. I guess some fans are more willing to accept that than others, and attempt to take some non-existent postives.
Stonesy, speaking personally I can take inept (but honest) performances by Hearts players. It’s one reason why I don’t tend to come down on Calum Elliot too often – he may have banana feet but at least he tries. I’ve been a Hearts fan for too long not to think like that. What bugs me is players who don’t give a damn. Michael Stewart cares about Hearts, and really gives the impression he would die for the jersey… even when he’s having an off-day like Saturday was. We’re not Barcelona, and never have been.
That attitude is why we don’t challenge the guff Old Firm teams.