Super Hearts defy current chaos

Hearts followed up last weeks fine 4-0 win with a well deserved 2-0 win against third-placed Motherwell, a team who have proved a thorn in our side in recent years. First half goals from Ian Black and Stephen Elliott sealed the win – however the style and focus of the home players were impressive as Motherwell were limited to a small number of attacking opportunities. No bookings, only a handful of fouls, great passing and movement – with Templeton, Taouil and Elliott coming into a good run of form.

Ahead of this game, the media were full of gloomy news which suggested that a lot of players were in full revolt over the wages delays. Eggert Jonnson had already been sold to Wolves, Ryan Stevenson had “walked out”, and quotes attributed to Andy Driver (and his agent) suggested that he would never play for Hearts again. It was hard for fans to feel confident that the players would be able to focus properly on this game, never mind dominate a team like Motherwell.

So the result and performance we got suggests that Stuart McCall may well have been right in his pre-match comments about the Hearts players wanting to perform well in front of watching scouts from other clubs, I an effort to secure move away from Hearts in January. However the appearance of Driver – and further quotes attributed to him in today`s papers – suggest that the “rift” between him and manager Paulo Sergio isn`t quite as wide as we were led to believe. I suspect that Paulo has performed some sensible man-management on young Andrew – probably pointing out to him that his chances of getting a move to a higher level are almost entirely dependant on him playing football for Hearts in the coming few weeks ?.and letting other clubs see that his he isn`t a troublemaker who takes the huff publicly when he isn`t getting picked.

I`m sure Paulo knows that he needs to rise to the challenge of keeping a coherent and focused squad together in the face of the severe financial difficulties affecting the players, while also realising that he is likely to lose another 2 or 3 players in January. Starting with the 1-0 defeat at Parkhead, the team has performed very well, and we have to hope that they can continue this form into the next few games. It would be a marvellous (and definitely achieveable) feat to win all of these matches –

Aberdeen (a)
Hibs (a)
Auchinleck (h)
St. Mirren (h)
Inverness (a)