Rangers on song as Hateley and Laudrup dance to same tune But problems continue to mount for Hearts

JAMES TRAYNOR

12 Sep 1994

BEFORE the start Mark Hateley accepted a golden boot award in recognition of his scoring prowess of last season.

It was a timely reminder of the Englishman's predatory powers, but Hearts must have missed the moment, otherwise they surely would have stationed a handful of defenders around Hateley from start to finish.

They did not, of course, and the striker struck twice, leaving Hearts to look elsewhere for their first win.

Only four games have been played and already this season is beginning to take on a wretched look so far as the Tynecastle side are concerned.

The bold new world anticipated when Chris Robinson bought Hearts from Wallace Mercer, who was a guest in the Ibrox directors' box yesterday, may become an empty future unless money can be found to allow manager Tommy McLean to buy players and provide a desperately needed injection of enthusiasm and confidence.

Hearts' players wear the looks of people bereft of hope.

By way of contrast, their sun-tanned former chairman oozed wellbeing.

Exile in the south of France obviously agrees with Mercer, although he, too, must have been perturbed by the lack of confidence among his former employees.

Once Hateley and Brian Laudrup tuned in to the same frequency, Hearts' resolve disintegrated.

The bulk of the 41,044 crowd arrived believing Rangers were a club heading deeper into trouble, but every one of them left later in the afternoon convinced Hearts are the club facing serious problems.

Their statistics are the arithmetic of crisis.

Bottom of the premier division after three defeats in four matches, only one point, eight goals against and only two for.

In times like these assets have to be sold and it becomes increasingly likely that Alan McLaren will be transferred to generate finance, but he did not look a tempting buy as he toiled in the middle of the pitch.

McLaren had been used to good effect in that area by Scotland manager Craig Brown against Finland last midweek, but then he had the task of subduing Jari Litmanen.

The Hearts player is good at that sort of thing, but sometimes he can appear lost when he does not have an obvious target, and so it was at Ibrox.

Operating just in front of his defensive line, he was required to check the runs and manoeuvres of players like Ian Ferguson and Stuart McCall, and also to be creative.

It did not work, and eventually Rangers' midfield began to dominate and push the ball on to Laudrup.

That was the beginning of the end.

The Danish internationalist made some searing runs in the first half and it was his pass to Hateley which led to the first goal in 58 minutes.

Hateley galloped into the penalty box and knocked the ball beyond Henry Smith, who impeded the striker's progress.

A penalty was awarded but, remarkably, referee Jim McCluskey took no action against Smith.

Perhaps he knew what was about to befall Hearts when Hateley had dusted himself down.

He scored from the spot and confidence drained out of Hearts and coursed through Rangers' ranks.

"Whether or not it was a penalty is open to debate," said McLean afterwards, "but the loss of the first goal caused us to crumble.

There is a lack of self-belief within the team."

McLean will now be required to do what he did with Motherwell many years ago and rebuild an entire side, but the difference this time is that he has a demanding crowd to please.

However, when it comes to making demands Hearts supporters are not in the same league as the fans who follow Rangers.

Three defeats in a row had caused these people to question the commitment and abilities of just about every player, the manager, and the chairman, David Murray.

Who knows what invective might have spilled from the four stands were a fourth successive setback to have been Rangers' Sunday lot, but Hateley eased the tension.

"After the first goal we relaxed and played as we can," said Hateley.

"We created six or seven good chances and we took three of them, which is the way it should be.

The striker added that he felt Rangers had passed the ball more freely and creatively than they had done for some considerable time, and the manager, Walter Smith, also was pleased with that aspect of yesterday's triumph.

Like everyone else in the stadium he was impressed by the work of Laudrup, who was taken off in the second half because he had returned from international duty nursing a sore back.

"I think there is a bit more to come from Brian yet," said the manager, "and I'm sure he will benefit from playing with a natural goalscorer like Ally McCoist when he returns."

McCoist is due to play again in a fortnight, by which time Rangers hope to be fully into their stride, knocking the ball around with the composure and accuracy which marked their second goal against Hearts in 71 minutes.

Eventually, and inevitably, Laudrup was on the ball in a deep position and when his low cross reached the middle of Hearts' box, Hateley could not resist lunging in front of John Millar to prod the ball in.

Gordon Durie, who had been sent on after the interval because of a back injury sustained by Dave McPherson, was guilty of ruining a good break, a lapse which tugged an animated Smith to his feet in the directors' box, but he made up for that error 14 minutes from the end.

Laudrup picked up Dave Robertson's overlap on the left and sent the ball through for the full back to make a high delivery into the middle.

Hateley was about to leap, but allowed the ball to continue on to Durie, whose low header beat Smith.

Taken from the Herald