Hearts fail to earn a cut in overdraft

JAMES TRAYNOR

28 Jan 1991

Airdrie bank on honest toil

CHAIRMAN Wallace Mercer was crestfallen.

His team were battering away in vain at Airdrie's defence in the closing minutes of a Tennents Scottish Cup tie at Broomfield, but Mercer -- along with just about everyone else inside the first-division club's humble premises -- knew this was to be one of those times when the underdog triumphs.

Airdrie's 2-1 win silenced the large Edinburgh contingent and, remarkably, Mercer looked as though words were failing him too.

He knows better than anyone that Hearts' premature departure from the cup will cost them dearly.

As chairman his remit goes far beyond damage to the morale of players, and his heart would have been heavy, because it was not simply a chance to claim some of the game's glory which was lost.

A long run in the cup would have brought in extra finance and might have slowed the rate at which the club's overdraft is growing, but when it comes to football Airdrieonians are hardly benign.

They were content to put football to one side and challenge Hearts in terms of determination and desire and, in the end, theirs was the more potent, although they did live dangerously for much of the second half as the premier-division team surged towards their goal.

Between the sticks, however, John Martin repeatedly leapt to the rescue with some marvellous saves.

Hearts probably could not believe they were being denied by the same keeper who earlier had appeared so inept when they scored the opening goal.

Only 11 minutes had been played when Scott Crabbe's shot hit a defender and the ball fell nicely to Gary Mackay just inside the Airdrie box.

The midfield player's shot was not particularly powerful, but just as Martin was dropping down to smother the ball it hit a divot and bounced over him into the net.

A minute later, Airdrie lost Alan Lawrence because of injury, and as the former Rangers player, John MacDonald, ran on Broomfield's regulars began to wonder if the fates were conspiring against them.

However, Hearts also had to make a substitution when Crabbe damaged knee ligaments.

Wayne Foster took over, but honest toil brought Airdrie back into the game and they were entitled to consider themselves unfortunate still to be a goal down at the interval.

The first real chance of the second half was created by Hearts, but John Robertson headed over the bar from close range, and his error was to prove costly.

A few minutes later Owen Coyle slipped the ball through Hearts' defence, setting up Graham Harvey, who found a gap between Henry Smith and a post to score.

The celebrations were loud and still going on when, nine minutes later, Airdrie again were in front of Smith's goal.

MacDonald lofted the ball into the box from a corner and John Watson rose to make contact.

For a second there was a deafening silence, almost as though no-one in the crowd of 10,000 could believe their eyes.

Then there was noise, loud and raucous, as the terracings came alive.

Hearts' work became more frantic and Airdrie, afraid to venture forward lest they should leave themselves exposed, opted to form a wall in front of Martin, a tactic which would have been their undoing had the Edinburgh side's attempts to score not been plagued by a combination of bad luck and bad finishing.

Proof of how desperate Hearts had become surfaced when Martin kicked the ball out of play so that John Colquhoun, who was down injured, could receive treatment.

After a few minutes, Tosh McKinlay was given the signal to resume play by taking the throw-in, but instead of observing the unwritten law of throwing the ball to an opposing player the full back gave it to one of his own, Robertson, and he raced forward and almost scored.

The crowd howled their disapproval at McKinlay's behaviour, and they were correct to do so.

We all know how painful, not to mention embarrassing, defeat by a smaller club is for the top sides, but that is no excuse for boorish behaviour.

It was extremely unsportsmanlike and the player should feel ashamed.

As the tie careered towards a conclusion Alex Stewart cleared on the line from Robertson and Martin made perhaps his best save to block Foster's header.

At the end, Hearts manager Joe Jordan lamented all those missed opportunities and said: "It's been difficult in the short time I've been with Hearts and I don't see that changing.

It'll be a long, hard season for us now."

The manager looked utterly forlorn as he turned and left Broomfield, which had fallen quiet apart from the voice of Jimmy Bone, who was obliging all sections of the media.

He seemed subdued in the aftermath, but then he had warned prior to the tie that Airdrie were capable of hurting his former club.

Bone and players now await the outcome of the replay between East Fife and Dundee United, a game which the Airdrie manager will watch.

Like everyone else he expects United, another of his former clubs, to win, and if he then tells us his team could cause another upset perhaps we should listen to him.

Taken from the Herald