Hearts able to swing it

MOIRA GORDON at Tynecastle

DUNFERMLINE 0
HEARTS 1 Pressley (pen) 56

YOU could almost picture Peter Snow and his swingometer. According to the match-day programme, the last time this pair locked horns at East End Park, back in November, it was Dunfermline who were the comfortable occupants of third place in the Premierleague, a clear five points ahead of Hearts. By the end of yesterday’s match the gap was 16 points in Hearts favour.

It was a statistic that perfectly illustrated just how much Dunfermline have struggled to find their early season form the longer this campaign has progressed, and underlines the reason why Hearts fans are already checking out their collection of European travel guides.

In the 18 games that have followed that November meeting, Jimmy Calderwood’s men have only accumulated a further 18 points, while the Tynecastle side have amassed a far healthier and competitive 36, including the scalp of one side of the Old Firm, a feat Calderwood can fantasise about, having never managed it throughout his Fife tenure.

After that victory over Celtic at Gorgie last weekend, there was always the fear that Hearts would fail to recapture the spirit and style of play which prompted such plaudits and it was a fear which Craig Levein’s men realised. Far from their best, the sad fact as far as Dunfermline were concerned was that they didn’t need to be firing on all cylinders to leave with all three points.

Ninety per cent workrate and a decisive spot kick courtesy of captain Steven Pressley was enough. After that Hearts hardly needed to break sweat.

Dunfermline huffed and puffed but there was no way they had anything in the arsenal which looked likely to blow the house down.

It was a failing that could actually have been levelled at both sides throughout the first half, with Dunfermline actually giving the most cause for dug-out jitters when they seemed to spark to life for a few minutes two thirds of the way through the opening 45.

While one of Pressley’s strengths is his composure on the ball, he was a bit too lackadaisical on a couple of occasions and was nearly punished. A couple of tight passes across the back line and a slow ball back to Tepi Moilanen obviously gave Stevie Crawford cause for optimism and the next time the clearance was less than slick, he pounced, with only Pressley’s knee denying him and Andy Webster heading clear as the striker pounced on the second ball.

That was the 32nd minute and 60 seconds later it was the Hearts captain’s weak header that provided Steven Hampshire with a glimpse of an opener but the Finnish goalkeeper spared his blushes by bursting off his line and scooping up the ball a millisecond before the youngster got to it.

A man who detests defensive lapses and is perhaps less forgiving than most due to his own aptitude in that area as a player, Levein’s words - he claims he didn’t rage, merely cajoled and appealed for more bravery - must have been echoing in Pressley’s brain when he stepped up for the match-winning penalty in the 56th minute. He’d been offered the chance for redemption thanks to the combined efforts of Mark De Vries, who went down more heavily than was necessary in the box, and Dunfermline’s Lee Bullen, whose tug had precipitated it. While Bullen vehemently appealed his innocence, Pressley sent Marco Ruitenbeek, back between the sticks for the first time in five months, the wrong way.

"I thought the players did a professional job today," said Levein. "It was always going to be a difficult game. The atmosphere wasn’t the same as last week so we had to generate our own inner urgency. Without being brilliant or even good I thought we improved a lot in the second half."

Fair assessment from a manager who knows his side’s third position is all but secured and even has time to worry about the future of lads such as Webster. He is the latest youngster to be feted and feigned over as the bright new hope for the national team, but his club gaffer is slightly more reserved as he looks ahead to the Austria match. "He has a big future in front of him but my fear is that he is there [in the Scotland squad] too early. I’m not surprised Andy is there on his performances, but I find it surprising that it’s happened all of a sudden."

But there is no doubting that Webster has been a large part of the defensive stability since the winter shutdown and in recent weeks he has been keen to prove himself a force up front as well, breaking forward when he can.

It is a something Jimmy Calderwood can only yearn for. With only private targets to aim for in the remaining few games - including the club’s biggest points and goals tallies in the Premierleague - no lasting harm can be done but it still irks. "It was a poor performance," he admitted. "We didn’t create much but Marco didn’t have much to do either. It wasn’t a lack of effort but I don’t think the confidence is too high at the moment."

When the two last met, the managerial quotes were probably fairly similar if spouting from different mouths but as both clubs have proved, it is not just politics and Peter Snow who has a need for a swingometer.

Taken from the Scotsman