Sunderland leave Levein baffled

JONATHAN COATES AT TYNECASTLE

HEARTS 2-2 SUNDERLAND

CRAIG Levein’s belief that friendly results are irrelevant would be maintained by the way his team dismantled Mick McCarthy’s Sunderland at Tynecastle yet failed, almost inexplicably, to score more goals than them.

Hearts had already lost four times in pre-season but their premiere in Edinburgh demonstrated an energetic readiness to get the campaign under way. They cowed their English opponents into submission by exposing their deep deficiencies at the back, until a single application of class transformed the contest.

McCarthy, close to despair at being two goals down, introduced a raft of substitutes in the second half and the third of them, Sean Thornton, spontaneously reminded his team they could play.

The midfielder’s first touch was an exquisite free-kick that looped above and around Craig Gordon; his second a running header to equalise, after persistent work on the touchline by Kevin Kyle and John Oster.

For an-hour-and-a-quarter, Hearts were almost embarrassed at how far they were in front. Phil Stamp and Mark de Vries provided a two-goal cushion in the first-half and their every attack thereafter seemed to result in a one-on-one confrontation with Mart Poom, striking freely at Sunderland’s unprotected core.

But their failure to capitalise on this superiority would attain a haunting aspect with 16 minutes to play, and a one-sided affair quickly became an irascible one. Rash tackles flew in on the flanks and Levein even became involved in a shoving match with Jason McAteer.

De Vries had been at the heart of so many potentially destructive overtures in Sunderland’s half that it came as no surprise to find the Dutchman creating one goal and scoring another by the time the first half was out.

His barrel chest had earlier laid a ball into the path of Dennis Wyness identical to the one Stamp converted in fine style to open the scoring.

It would be instructive for Wyness, who had scuffed his opportunity and would later hit fresh air with another, to watch Stamp take the ball in his stride and drive it firmly, low from 25 yards, to the right of Poom.

With Sunderland’s back four clustering infield, space was created for both Hearts’ wide midfielders, Joe Hamill and Paul Hartley, Hamill effectively playing as an out-and-out winger on the left.

The industrious De Vries played a key part in the multi-pass move that led to his strike, eight minutes before the interval. With his back to goal, he cushioned a pass to Hartley, whose options were quickly reduced by the sight of young Hamill in his own private acre on the left.

Hartley’s cross-field delivery was raking and low, giving Hamill enough time to swing the ball across the six-yard line, where De Vries rose in his own inimitable way to head into the far corner.

Hartley sought Hamill in the same fashion moments later. Wyness got in the way, dragged the cross down and somehow squeezed into point-blank shooting range.

Poom’s block denied the Aberdonian and kept Sunderland in the match, but the Black Cats’ defensive ineptitude seemed to have pre-destined the outcome. The away fans certainly thought so - they began chanting for the departed Jody Craddock.

McCarthy, forced to extract most of the expensive class from his relegated squad this summer, was soon to be pounding the dugout in fury. It was not at all immediate then that the Irishman had a rabbit he could pull out of his hat.

Levein was left to count the cost of a fiery encounter by totting up an injury count that comprised Hartley, Hamill and Maybury, though none are thought to be serious.

Hearts: Gordon, Maybury, Pressley, Webster, McCann (McLeod 73), Severin, Stamp (Kisnorbo 85), Hamill (Macfarlane 46), Hartley (Boyack 46), De Vries, Wyness (Weir 79). Subs not used: Moilanen, Kirk.

Sunderland: Poom, Wright, McCartney, McAteer, Bjorklund, Williams, Oster, Whitley (Thirlwell 64), Kilbane (Thornton 71), Stewart (Proctor 58), Kyle. Subs not used: Clark, Butler.

Referee: I Fyfe.

Taken from the Scotsman