Hearts Escape With Draw

It?s very difficult to say what angered me more tonight: Vladimir Romanov?s alleged interference with the Hearts team selection or the performance of referee Dougie McDonald here at Tannadice.

This was always going to be a tough match for Hearts against a rejuvenated United. However it became an infinitely more difficult proposition when the news was leaked this morning about Graham Rix no longer having the final say on team selection, which resulted in the Hearts team having no less than six changes in it from the team that beat Aberdeen at the weekend.

Whatever the reasons for the changes, and I?m sure they will be discussed at length in the next few days, there is no doubt that the decision to drop Robbie Neilson, Andy Webster and Davidas Cesnauskis handed Dundee United the initiative tonight. Quite frankly, it was a scandalous decision and completely unnecessary as all three players were fully fit and available for selection. Hearts didn?t play until two of them came on late in the match and by that stage, it really was too late to get the three points they needed against a hard-working side that full merited the draw and probably more.

I could accept dropping these players if the men we brought in were of genuine class, match fit and ready to play in a side challenging for a championship. However after five minutes you could just tell that Martin Petras, who had been thrown in for Neilson at right-back, is no more a natural full-back than ??than my Dad is! Or if he is, then the words ?complete? and ?donkey? don?t even begin to describe it! I?d prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt though ? he looked like a centre-half playing at full-back, a bit like Pressley did when he first signed for Hearts under Jim Jefferies. At least replace Neilson with someone comfortable in his position for goodness sake.

Dropping Webster was the worst of the lot. For me he is clearly the best centre-half in the country and has come on leaps and bounds in recent times and there is simply no justification for him not being in the team, unless he?s been up to something behind the scenes that is ? we shall see. Christophe Berra actually performed admirably tonight given the situation he was thrown into, but he?s got some way to go before he?s in Webster?s class. Scandalous.

As for Cesnauskis well, for me he?s been one of our most improved players in recent weeks and certainly our most dangerous winger. He was dropped in favour of the Czech Ludek Staceny, who didn?t look too bad, but it was no coincidence that Hearts really didn?t look threatening until Cesnauskis came on in the second half.

The bottom line is, Hearts wasted their three substitutes tonight and threw away a genuine chance to put pressure on Celtic, who will probably be preparing their Valentines card for Vladimir Romanov as I write!

Some years ago you might remember I was meant to be talking about the game at Tannadice tonight, so let?s get this over with shall we??.

United started the match as they intended to go on: direct, aggressive and right up for getting the three points. In fact all the qualities that Hearts lacked when they lost 1-0 at Kilmarnock recently??..and again tonight unfortunately.

It was clear from the start of the game that Petras was uncomfortable at right-back and he was up against a very good player (and wind-up merchant) in Barry Robson, who gave him a torrid opening half-hour. However it was Hearts who carved out the first chance and what a chance it was. Straceny found some space down the right and fired over a great cross that Pospisil should have buried from around six yards out. Hearts would rue that miss.

After a frantic opening half-hour, where United had the better of the play and referee McDonald had done his best to disrupt the passage of play, the home side deservedly took the lead. Robson, who looked like he was blatantly obstructing Brellier, carved out a crossing chance for Mulgrew and he fired over a wicked ball that completely deceived Craig Gordon, who started to come for the cross, stopped and ended up in no man?s land. Brebner got his head to it at the back post and managed to bundle it in despite Gordon?s last-ditch attempts to claw it back. It just had to be an ex-Hibby didn?t it!

United then went for the killer second and fired over several dangerous crosses soon after the goal. Hearts were really struggling to get anything going and the well below-par Fyssas was lucky to escape a booking after a wreckless lunge just outside the box.

Any time that Hearts looked like crossing the half-way line they were caught offside. All very frustrating but probably an indication of how well-drilled that Brewster has his United defence. All Hearts could do was fire aimless-looking balls over the top and this was easily dealt with by the home side.

The pattern in the second half did not change too much in the early stages. United forced a couple of corners and nearly scored from both, the second of which saw Colin Samuel scooping over from very close in when it looked easier to score.

Hearts responded with a Skacel (yes he WAS playing!) free-kick that Elliot headed over ? perhaps harsh but I felt he could have done better as he?d lost his marker.

McDonald really started to come into his own now with some outrageously inconsistent refereeing. It?s not the major decisions, it?s the constant stream of incorrectly awarded free-kicks or non-awarding of free-kicks that don?t result in a booking for diving that really get on everyone?s nerves. If a man hits the deck as if he?s been pole-axed and the referee doesn?t see it as a foul, he gets booked for diving ? simple as that. This happened goodness knows how many times and not one player was booked for diving. In other words, he never justified any of these decisions. He was also frustrating both sets of players (particularly United?s) with his refusal to play the advantage rule. Several times Fernandez broke free after being fouled and would be hauled back to take a free-kick. Shocking. £21 spent to watch one horrible little man on a power trip. Go back to Park Gardens or Easter Road or wherever it is you come from!

The biggest cheer of the night so far from the Hearts end came when Robbie Neilson came on as sub for the beleaguered Petras. Neilson had his name chanted by the large travelling support and I couldn?t help thinking this was quite ironic given the amount of abuse that man takes from the same people on a regular basis. These are probably the same people who booed Petras as he left the field??.I hope these morons are proud of themselves. This does no-one any good.

Paul Hartley, who had been fairly anonymous in the first half, suddenly burst into life and missed a great chance when he surged through the middle of the United defence, but instead of shooting he opted to pass and got it badly wrong. A great chance lost, but at least Hartley was showing the correct attitude to get us back into the game, something that not all in a maroon jersey could honestly say I think.

Cesnauskis and Mikoliunas came on Pospisil and Straceny respectively and the visitors immediately looked a yard sharper. Without ever creating clear-cut opportunities they started to take some sort of grip on the game and after 83 minutes they got their reward, albeit in slightly unclear circumstances. McDonald awarded a penalty for what was apparently a foul on Pressley. I never actually saw this, but Callum Elliot was completely manhandled at the back post, so if Pressley was fouled, McDonald actually had two fouls to choose from??one way or the other it was a definite penalty. United?s players clearly did not agree and they bullied McDonald and wound-up Hartley for what seemed like an age. Hartley was unruffled however and nicely rolled his penalty in to make it 1-1. Not quite out of jail as a draw wasn?t good enough, but it felt like a reprieve of sorts.

A few minutes later a lovely ball put Elliot clean-through on goal but he appeared to be brought to the ground as he prepared to bear down on Stillie. The result? You guessed it, no free-kick and no booking for Elliot. This decision summed up the referee for me.

With four minutes to go Barry Robson, who had been particularly incensed at the penalty decision, decided to take it out on Pressley with a shocking follow-through tackle on the Hearts captain. McDonald had no option but to red card him. Julien Brellier followed him after getting involved in some handbags stuff with McCracken?..McDonald was probably happy to even things up but Brellier should have stayed away and gotten on with helping us trying to nick the three points. Hartley was furious with him and rightly so.

To call this a frustrating evening wouldn?t even come close. This could well be the night that Vladimir Romanov, or someone at Tynecastle, finally handed over the league championship to Celtic. Let?s just hope we don?t hand Rangers a scarcely-deserved second spot in the months ahead as well???..

Player Ratings

Gordon 5
It was a great cross but he was completely caught out at the goal. Handling generally good but just didn’t command his area as he should.

Petras 2
Looked like a centre-half playing at full-back. About seven feet tall but never won a header and generally looked uncomfortable at all times, as best illustrated by the lunge that got him booked. Shame he was booed off though.

Fyssas 2
His worst performance in a Hearts jersey. Never found a maroon jersey all night and looked slow.

Pressley 6
Again looked uncomfortable and given a torrid time by Fernandez, but he really gave it everything to try and drag Hearts back into it and his leadership qualities are second to none.

Berra 6
I thought he did remarkably well given the situation he was thrust into. Part of a defence that was never comfortable, but he won some crucial challenges and stood up physically to Fernandez better than the others.

Straceny 5
Actually looks a half-decent player but he wasn’t involved often enough for me. This wasn’t the game to throw him into, but looking forward to having another look at him. Great early cross for Pospisil’s missed chance.

Brellier 4
Started off ok, but soon became frustrated and it looked like he gave up, not for the first time this season. Stupidly he then got himself involved with McCracken, giving the ref an opportunity to send him off that he was never going to refuse. Idiot.

Skacel 3
Contribution was virtually nil, unless you include trying to noise up the crowd. Didn’t appear to try a leg.

Hartley 6
Anonymous in first half but helped drive the team on in the second. Missed great chance but kept his cool well at penalty after a lot of gamesmanship.

Pospisil 4
Doesn’t appear to have the strength to hold the ball up away from home and struggled to make an impact here. Missed great early chance with sclaffed effort from Straceny’s cross.

Elliot 7
Another fine performance. Never stopped trying and always our main threat, although perhaps could have done better with header in second half. Could have been fouled when right through late on.

Neilson 5
Steadied things up a bit down the right.

Cesnauskis 6
Looked lively and it’s a shame he never had longer to try and make an impact.
Not on long enough to make any real impact.