At around 1.15pm, just after Livingston on the M8, we had the option to come off the road, leave the stood-still traffic behind us and go home to watch Gillette Soccer Saturday on the TV instead. We didn?t. Graham Rix said in his post-match interview words to the effect of ?you can?t regret things that are in the past?. Well Graham, I?m sorry but I?m afraid I regret that decision today.
Not that I?m blaming this entirely on the match. The fact that the journey West was hindered by roadworks, accidents and people who are not fit to be behind the wheel of a car already had this normally mild-mannered gentleman feeling a bit tetchy.
However when it got to the match itself, pretty much anything that could happen to annoy a Jambo did! An early injury to a key player, another incredibly incompetent second-half refereeing display (I?ll get to that later), unpunished spoiling tactics by the hosts, strange substitutions from Rix and worst of all, seeing our team bullied to defeat. Not outplayed, bullied, something that we are meant to be the best at. Not so on today?s evidence.
This was always going to be a very tough match. Kilmarnock are a good side and have given Hearts as good a game as any side in the SPL has this season. Hearts have generally played well since Boxing Day but the only match they haven?t really done so in since then was the Cup match against Killie, a match they were fortunate to win. They were also missing the talismanic Rudi Skacel and captain Steven Pressley, so they really needed to be on their toes from the off.
Killie started brightly and after only a few minutes Garry Hay had drilled a long range shot just over Craig Gordon?s crossbar. Hearts responded quickly though and it wasn?t long before the re-signed Neil McCann was in the action: good link-up play between Hartley and Pospisil played McCann in behind the defence and he set up Elliot for a chance that Killie keeper Combe sprinted off his line to block. Another quick attack from Hearts almost brought the opener when Pospisil hit a lovely volley from a tight angle that Combe did well to beat away.
The play was pretty much end-to-end in the early stages but worryingly for Hearts, home winger Stephen Naismith was giving Robbie Neilson a torrid time down the Hearts right. Killie were using similar tactics to those that Hibs used when beating Hearts at Easter Road: playing diagonal balls over the top in behind Neilson and pressuring the two centre-backs with their pace in attack. They were also extremely physical in midfield and were starting to win a lot of the little individual battles that eventually win you matches. Exemplifying this, David Lilley crunched into Neil McCann with probably the hardest tackle I?ve seen this season. McCann, who had looked very lively, eventually had to limp off and although we didn?t know it at the time, off with him went our main attacking threat and our hopes of a victory. Jamie McAllister came on as a replacement and to be honest, I?m not convinced this helped Hearts at all. They needed some spark to try and go in front, not stifle the game as if we were a couple of goals up. Wallace or Cesnauskis would have been a more attacking move.
It?s a pity that no Hearts player gave Naismith the same treatment dealt out to McCann. Instead it was actually the Killie winger himself who was next to get stuck in, on Neilson, but this tackle never got near the ball and was a blatant attempt to injure the Hearts full-back. A yellow card was lenient in my opinion. Neilson then tried to take a bit of revenge and was penalised for a string of fouls, resulting in a booking. From one of these free-kicks the ever annoying (but highly effective) Naismith fired in a shot that Gordon tipped over.
The second half was barely a minute old when Killie took the lead. Some nice lead up play down the right wing led to a ricochet in the box??the ball eventually fell nicely for Danny Invincible who fired past the helpless Gordon from around eight yards.
It was at this point that I realised that Hearts had put on another sub at half-time: Barasa had come on for Mikoliunas on the right wing. So let?s think then: we?re a goal down and instead of the two attacking wingers we started with, we now have two defensive players in their places. Hmmm??.
It was also at this point that referee Conroy decided to make himself known to all and sundry. As in almost every Hearts game in recent times, the referee performed entirely differently in the second half. It really is quite bizarre how they can go from being reasonably anonymous (as they should be) to the centre of attention in such a short space of time. The first hint of his nonsense came after a 50-50 challenge involving Barasa. No free-kick was awarded but because the Killie player stayed down injured the ball was kicked out for a throw. The result? A booking for Barasa despite the referee seeing no foul! Quite bizarre.
Gary Wales was then played in after another ball over the top caught the slow Hearts defence napping, but his finish was frankly awful.
The game was really scrappy now and what seemed like foul after foul was awarded, usually incorrectly. Hartley and Brellier were getting exasperated, almost to the point where it looked like they were giving up. Cesnauskis had come on for the tiring Fyssas and within minutes Naismith had virtually halved the poor bloke. Predictably no booking was handed out to Naismith because???well it would have meant a red wouldn?t it? Conroy bottled it.
Hearts were huffing and puffing but Killie still had the upper hand in the midfield. The away side did have a great chance from McAllister?s free-kick, but Elliot failed to connect properly at the near post. Allan Johnston, who had a fine match for the home side, then went close with a crisp left-footer from the edge of the area.
Three Killie players then lined up to foul Callum Elliot as he tried to bear down on goal, the youngster eventually retaliating and getting booked. The perpetrators were not punished and so kept at it. Killie were also getting very adept at kicking the ball away after giving away free-kicks, but the referee seemed ok with that?..so they just kept doing it. Fair enough.
With the game slowly getting away from Hearts, Killie missed an incredible chance to seal it beyond doubt. A long ball over the top had Neilson struggling, although to be fair it looked like he was clearly fouled. He eventually fell under the challenge from Invincible and handled the ball but the ref played on?..and Gary Wales set up Colin Nish for a simple tap-in at the back post??.but he somehow managed to hit the post and it bounced to safety. This really had to be seen to be believed and definitely backed up one fan?s opinion that the Cockney rhyming slang usage of Colin Nish?s name is very apt indeed for this player!
In fact, the whole afternoon could be summed in two words: Colin Nish!
Player Ratings
Gordon 6
No chance with goal and handling generally ok, but communication with back four could have been better.
Neilson 4
Run ragged by Naismith and was clearly identified by Killie as a weak link to exploit.
Fyssas 5
Solid enough defensively but made little impact going forward. Subbed in second half.
Berra 5
Looked uncomfortable throughout and it showed that he wasn’t used to playing in this defence.
Webster 7
Part of a defence that was generally uncomfortable but individually did well, winning lots of crucial headers under pressure.
Brellier 5
Started off ok but after he was booked he found it hard going. Resorted to fouling a lot but was rightly annoyed by some decisions that went against him.
McCann 3
Looked very lively and quick before he had to limp off very early on. Shame as it looked a bad injury.
Mikoliunas 4
Another who started quite well but found it hard going when the game got physical and was subsequently subbed at half time.
Hartley 5
Tried very hard as always but it just wasn’t happening for him. Opted for the World Cup pass too often instead of keeping it simple.
Pospisil 5
Had a good first half I felt he but was virtually anonymous in the second. However it must be said that the service was poor – we can’t expect much if all he gets are high balls.
Elliot 6
Really gave it everything and was harshly treated by opponents and the referee. Probably should have done better with second half chance, but was still the only attacking player getting himself in good positions late on.
McAllister 5
On for McCann but offered nothing like the same attacking threat. Fired over couple of decent free-kicks but like most of the midfield, was out-fought.
Barasa 7
On at half time for Miko and probably our best performer. Really got stuck in and won lots of aerial balls – if the rest of the midfield had played like him we wouldn’t have lost. Encouraging.
Very lively when he came on: skinned a couple of defenders that should have resulted in bookings and fired over a late cross that was begging to be attacked. Shame he never came on earlier.
