Sunny dreams end at Gorgie

By DOUGLAS CAMPBELL

14 Apr 1997

Hearts ............. 0 Aberdeen ........ 0

IT could have been a capital city anywhere in Europe.

Street vendors going about their business, bar customers spilling out on to the pavements while quenching thirsts, and for most the warm sunshine heralding a return to bright summer clothing.

If the imagination was allowed to drift for an instant, it could have been Paris or Prague.

But no, it was Gorgie Road and at three o'clock inside the local football ground the audience were reminded that this was Scotland, and the season for kicking a leather bag around a field without much in the way of know-how was still grinding on.

It is difficult to understand how 22 men wearing football boots and being well paid for the privilege can make the brightest of afternoons appear dreadfully dull, but such was the situation at Tynecastle, and match referee Kenny Clark was thanked profusely when he called a halt and we could all go home.

Was it really so dreadful? You should have been there, as both teams appeared to turn football mediocrity into a highly priced art form, with Aberdeen leading the way.

For 90 minutes their men galloped around the badly bruised grass with, it seemed, very little idea of what was going on around them, and when Hearts pressed towards goal, Aberdeen fans could have been excused for closing their eyes in fear as the ball bounced in the general direction of Derek Stillie.

On weekend form, the keeper would have difficulty catching a cold in the dead of winter, and it was with more luck than judgment on Stillie's part that the Hearts players did not head home with a win bonus.

Thankfully, Hearts' ponderous play was not missed by their manager, Jim Jefferies, and his lips were seldom at peace as he advised his men as to their best course of action.

Later, the media core waited for the managers to show face and chat about the afternoon, expecting the usual ''we had an off day'' or ''due to injuries our options were limited so it was never going to be a classic.'' Roy Aitken was the first to pop his head in.

''There were not too many chances in the game for either side,'' he rightly said.

''That was down to stern work from both defences.

So if you want to look at the game from a defensive point of view, it was good.'' What Aitken was saying was that when the ball was clattered upfield, inevitably leaving the creative midfield workers redundant, it was bashed back to the other lot for the same boring thing to start again.

And to think, some people left a pleasant afternoon in the sunshine to watch this.

When one thinks of highlights of a match or season the mind invariably drifts to some attacking moves where imaginative build-up play is capped with the ball zooming into the net from the boot of a gifted striker.

On the bright side, it soon will be holiday time and a European capital may beckon, with the pavement cafes, sunshine, and not a football in site.

Next games: Hearts - Dunfermline (a).

Aberdeen - Raith Rovers (h).

Taken from the Herald