Hearts' resolve sees them through

RAY HEPBURN

9 May 1994

MULTI-purpose is the in phrase to describe Scotland's plethora of new and refurbished stadia and those which have been left in their decaying state.

The additional uses that our football grounds can accommodate is being seen as the key in applications to the bank manager for the finance that will satisfy the Taylor Report.

Tynecastle on Saturday, where cup finalists Dundee United confronted relegation haunted Hearts, portrayed a stark, almost depressing multi-purpose face that the planners couldn't conceive.

The flattened far side terrace gave the place an eerie feel, but it was the prospect of an imposing new stand rising from the rubble to welcome first division football that provided the chill shiver.

If the cranes, excavators and hard hats appeared to spell out the choice, Sandy Clark's team approached the challenge with a relish and relaxation that defied their awesome responsibility.

Against an under-strength Dundee United team, Hearts rarely looked like slipping into the chasm, but they still had to show their imploring supporters where the goals would come from.

It was indicative of Hearts' season that it was to the defence that they would turn in this difficult hour.

Mo Johnston, John Robertson and John Colquhoun have watched their supply slow to a trickle.

After 30 minutes Stephen Frail had the adventure to arrive in the six-yard box to coincide with Colquhoun and Robertson's service and stab them ahead from close in, althugh Guido Van de Kamp believed he had stopped the ball on the line.

Then captain Craig Levein, who more than any player this season has earned Hearts their respite, met an incisive Frail cross to drive in the spectacular second in 53 minutes.

On reflection, many of the Tynecastle players who produced the goods when it mattered may ponder that they will never play a more important match for their club, although there is still some work to be done at Firhill on Saturday.

United will have their day at Hampden in two weeks time and from this downbeat performance 19-year-old David Hannah did most to impress.

But it was Hearts' day.

The relief from the chairman down through the directors and players to the spectators could have been cut up and parcelled.

There is a suggestion Wallace Mercer thought of it.

Taken from the Herald