Thoughts of faraway places inspire Hearts

WILLIAM HUNTER

8 Apr 1991

WITH four goals at Tynecastle, Hearts made a down payment on a passage to foreign resorts.

They are not nearly there yet.

But they showed they have the wherewithal, could travel.

Although a 4-1 victory brings them excitingly closer to Euro entry, they are still only at the stage of brushing their boots preparatory to approaching the threshold.

It was the misfortune of Dunfermline Athletic to act as their doormat.

Their goals had a wide spread, from the first in the fourth minute to the last about the same time from the end.

Their enthusiasm was also widespread.

All but three of the squad they used looked on good form.

"I think they have got a sniff that there is something there for them," Joe Jordan the manager said about the residue of the season.

But travelling to the point of European qualification could involve as much hope as would arriving there.

Hearts have Aberdeen at home this Saturday and Celtic a fortnight later.

Besides, Dunfermline offered curiously listless opposition.

To begin with their tactics also looked at odds.

Sometimes the Pars have five players loitering in their defence and sometimes their seemed to be even more.

John Robertson, in effervescent mood, had two of the goals for Hearts, with Scott Crabb scoring from a looping free kick and Tosh McKinlay from a vigorous header.

Good going as it was, Hearts always looked capable of a full handful.

The hems were put on them mainly by some exuberant goalkeeping by Andy Rhodes.

He had a one-handed save that appeared superhuman from a Robertson header and put a stretched ankle in the way of a shot by Crabb with the help of what could only have been divine guidance.

Eamonn Bannon was also annointed.

His ambition for a last taste of European football could be crucial for Hearts.

He gave a masterly show of the simplest skills made artistic.

Because of his bald noddle it is tempting to describe his virtues as old-fashioned.

His economical use of the ball, especially his passing into space, were wondrous to behold.

He had a shot that eluded Rhodes blocked on the line by Ray Farningham.

For the first half Dunfermline gave the deliberative Milos Drizic a trot, if that is not too franetic a word to describe how he gets about.

According to the statistician of the match programme, who may operate from the top of a stepladder, Drizic's height is 6ft 5in.

Wearing black leggings, he looked immeasurably taller.

He seemed to perform in a different hemisphere from Robertson, whom he marked, and who is about one foot less tall.

Some part of Drizic's languorous appearances derives from how he keeps both long arms dripping at his sides.

But he is less than addicted to speed.

To move from a customary stationary position he first jogs on the spot as if seeking traction on a slippery slope.

He is a gifted, quick passer, however, and it would have been a pleasure to watch his work after the interval, however parlous

for Dunfermline's continuing presence in the game.

Drizic's pas de deux with Robertson was a joyous Mutt and Jeff sideshow.

Robertson even went the length of a mild foul.

Presumably, what the referee saw was Robertson backing into Drizic.

From a distance he looked as if he was trying to climb onto his lap.

Norrie McCathie had his customary stalwart game for the Pars and Paul Smith took their goal at 3-0.

Taken from the Herald