Hearts draw with ‘Well ? again

After disappointing draws against Hibs, Motherwell and Inverness, Hearts fans were looking to today`s post-Split fixture at Tynecastle as our best chance of picking up 3 points to maintain a healthy lead over Dundee Utd. By half-time, the 2-0 scoreline would have had most fans feeling confident. However when captain Andy Webster failed to appear for the 2nd half, that confidence was starting to slip away – how would our defence cope with Sutton and Murphy ?

Hearts starting line-up had a welcome surprise – a return for Marian Kello despite the intriguing and mysterious comments yesterday from JJ about a “private matter” requiring to be sorted out before the Slovakian could return to the team. Zaliukas was suspended, while Craig Thomson filled in at left-back.

Motherwell probably started the game slightly better than Hearts, forcing 2 corners. Eventually Hearts put together some good attacks – and Skacel`s acrobatic header from a Palazuelos cross brought out a great save from Randolph. The home side were correctly awarded a penalty when ‘Well defender Saunders ignored a warning from referee Collum about man-handling Ryan Stevenson at a corner-kick, and repeated the offence 5 yards in front of the referee. Thomson fired it home to Randolph`s left.

Then the lively Stevenson hit a left-footer off the outside of Randolph`s right post. Another lovely move saw Skacel play a one-two with Elliott to drive into the box and score with his right-foot. Just before half-time, Kello made 2 fine saves to keep the score at 2-0.

Andy Webster was replaced at half-time by Adrian Mrowiec, and Hearts continued to play some great football. A good move involving Suso saw Stevenson beat his man and unleash a fine shot which hit the inside of one post and cannon off the other to safety. Minutes later, Hearts were 3-0 up when another good move allowed Suso to send over a perfect cross for Stevenson to head home.

Game over, then ? Err? well? no – after all, you can`t call yourself a true Hearts supporter until your nerves have been put through the wringer, trying to hold on to a big lead.

Hearts are allegedly interested in signing John Sutton in the summer -so it was appropriate that the big striker pulled one goal back for the visitors by supporting winger Jones and heading home his cross. 10 minutes later, a free-kick on the Motherwell left from Hateley evaded everyone to drift in at Kello`s left-hand post.

It wasn’t backs to the wall for Hearts though. Suso should have done much better when sclaffed his shot when through on the keeper, Skacel had a fine shot saved by Randolph and Ian Black had a great shot that flew inches over the bar.

But it was the visitors who grabbed the next goal after 88 minutes when Sutton stopped to glance a looping header beyond Kello – and the loss of a 3-goal lead meant that the draw felt like a defeat for the home fans.

So although we can rue the lost points, we should remember that Motherwell are actually a pretty good team and have a Cup Final to look forward to. And let’s not forget that Hearts played some good football today, carving out a fair number of good scoring chances

I`ve read comments from some managers claiming that Willie Collum is our best referee – well I beg to differ. This was the guy who gave Rangers a penalty at Parkhead when Lafferty made a shameful dive ? and who showed 3 straight red cards to Dundee Utd players at penalty awards to make a mockery of the match. Today, he got some decisions appallingly wrong – including booking a ‘Well player when a mis-kick resulted in the ball hitting his hand. One of the visitors` goals resulted from a ridiculous free-kick in a 10-minute spell when he simply lost his senses.

Top man for Hearts was Ryan Stevenson, who looked like a natural forward today – winning loads of headers through strength and good judgement, while retaining possession well also. Although Craig Thomson despatched his penalty well, this was one of his poorest performances – his crosses were over-hit and many passes went astray, while he struggled to get close enough to Jones to make any decent tackles.

2 weeks ago, Andrew Driver came on as a substitute against Motherwell as JJ tried to put the emphasis on attack, but failed to make any impact – today was exactly the same. I really hope that young Andrew makes a return to form next season and stays clear of injury, because he simply isn`t the player we’ve seen in recent seasons.

Kilmarnock have fallen away a bit recently, but we have to make the most of our visit there next week to get 3 points – otherwise we could end up having to avoid defeat at Tannadice on the last day to clinch 3rd place ?.. which isn`t a particularly appealing prospect !!