Wales brings heartfelt relief

GLENN GIBBONS AT PITTODRIE

Aberdeen 0
Hearts 1
Wales (89)

GARY Wales probably felt much more comfortable on the bench than he did on the field at Pittodrie, but the miserable conditions he encountered when replacing Graeme Weir midway through the second half would seem gloriously sunny when he gave Hearts victory in the final minute.

In truth, Wales’s deadly left-foot shot - he was sent clear on a pass from Jean Louis Valois - brought both sides a fate that neither deserved on a night when both offered uncompromising commitment in deplorable conditions.

Hearts’ mood was as foul as the weather, the Tynecastle side clearly still in ferment over their Tennent’s Scottish Cup mauling at Falkirk and on the look-out for victims. It soon became just as obvious, however, that the atrocious conditions - freezing rain driven by a mercilessly vicious wind - would be a serious hindrance to their quest for atonement. By the time the match settled into anything like a discernible pattern (although this involved a version of hide-and-seek) and the visitors’ early aggressiveness had waned under pressure from the elements and the endeavours of their opponents, it was evident that the home side, too, were on a mission.

Aberdeen, astonishingly, had previously won only one league match at Pittodrie this season, a statistic that makes the present squad an insult to their predecessors. Quite apart from the Alex Ferguson years, the stadium has traditionally been, with good reason, one of the most feared in the country. The draws which Aberdeen managed against Rangers and Celtic during that period may have helped camouflage the depth of their poverty, but the figures say everything about their apparently relentless decline in the past decade or so.

In the climate that prevailed last night, there was never any likelihood of demonstrating appreciable artistic improvement, but, like those of Hearts, their players could not possibly be criticised. Only a match involving paying spectators would have been allowed to take place in these circumstances.

It was, in fact, a creditable effort from both sides to contrive movement and control which led to scoring opportunities, both taking it in turn to impose their will on the game. Hearts’ ascendancy in the opening 15 minutes was reversed for a similar length of time before a general evenness became the norm.

David Preece, the Aberdeen goalkeeper, was first to distinguish himself in defence after Alan Maybury’s good work on the right allowed him the space in which to deliver the kind of low, wicked cross which is a severe test of any goalkeeper’s nerve, concentration and dexterity. As young Graeme Weir challenged, Preece safely smothered the ball. He would not have been in a position to do much to prevent Jean Louis Valois from giving Hearts the lead had the Frenchman’s powerfully-struck 30-yard drive off a short free-kick been kept about 18 inches lower.

Hearts’ goalkeeper, Teuvo Moilanen, would not have been viewing these short episodes with any sense of smugness, knowing it would be only a matter of time before he, too, would be required to go to work. It arrived when Leon Mike won possession on the right and sent the low cross to Paul Sheering on the far side of the penalty area. Sheerin hit the shot on the run, back across goal and towards Moilanen’s left-hand corner, but the big Finn, with a little help from strategically-placed defenders, managed to scramble the ball off the line.

It would not be quite accurate to say that Hearts’ rhythm was disrupted by the injury-enforced removal of Stephane Mahe just before half-time, since a consistent tempo had been impossible to establish. The French full-back, injured in a challenge with Stephen Payne, had a direct replacement in Austin McCann, with no need for any shuffling of personnel. Craig Levein’s tactical tinkering did not arrive until 12 minutes into the second half, when Kevin McKenna replaced Marc de Vries, the latter having appeared more uncomfortably cold and wet than the others.

Almost typically, it was Aberdeen who soon contrived the most menacing surges towards Moilanen, affording the Hearts goalkeeper the opportunity to make his manager look the soundest of judges in his decision to prise him from Preston. When Sheering dinked a precise chip from the inside-left position on to the head of Tosh, the midfielder made good contact and turned the ball towards the target, but Moilanen had positioned himself astutely and was waiting to receive the header into his arms.

The Finn had much more work soon after, when Clark’s powerful drive was deflected by the lunging Steven Pressley towards the roof of the visitors’ net. Moilanen leapt quickly to touch the ball over.

Accurate scoring efforts were, by and large, understandably rare, given the difficulties the players encountered in keeping the ball under the wind. The overwhelming majority of these attempts soared above the crossbar, typified by McKenna’s run inside from the right into a threatening position and his consequent left-foot shot deep into the Richard Donald stand behind Preece.

By then, McKenna had been joined in attack by substitute Gary Wales, who replaced Weir, while Aberdeen sent on Scott Michie for Leon Mike.

Until Wales’ intervention, both gambits seemed to be merely change for its own sake on a night when it had seemed that only a kindly, or cruel, roll of the dice was likely to separate two hard-working teams.

Aberdeen: Preece; Anderson, McGuire, McAllister; Payne, Tosh, Rutkiewicz, Sheerin, Clark; Mackie, Mike (Michie 74). Subs not used: Kjaer, Derek Young, O’Donoghue. D’Jaffo,

Hearts: Moilanen; Maybury, Pressley, Webster, Mahe (McCann 40); Boyack, MacFarlane, Severin, Valois; Weir (Weir 66), De Vries (McKenna, 56). Subs not used: Gordon, Janczyk.

Referee: H Dallas.
Attendance: 9,322.

Taken from the Scotsman