Severin shows his staying power

HEARTS 2-0 ABERDEEN

Paul Kiddie

AS Hearts boss Craig Levein prepared his side for the start of the new Premierleague campaign, much of the focus was on the new signings he had made over the summer - but it was to be a familiar face which stole the show as the curtain went up on the new season.

In Paul Hartley and Dennis Wyness, Levein had persuaded last season’s top two performers from the First Division to move to Tynecastle. The arrival of the versatile Patrick Kisnorbo from Australia helped add the kind of strength in depth to the squad the Hearts head coach was looking for.

Tepi Moilanen’s signing of a permanent deal following his successful loan spell from Preston completed the Jambos’ jigsaw.

It was therefore with much anticipation that the majority of the 14,000-plus crowd rolled into sun-kissed Gorgie on Saturday to see just what the new faces would bring to the team. And while Moilanen, Hartley and Wyness - who had a quiet afternoon after being preferred to Andy Kirk as the strike partner of Mark de Vries - could be generally satisfied with their contributions in the knowledge there is more to come in the weeks ahead, it was one of the Gorgie faithful’s ‘old’ favourites who made the biggest impression against Aberdeen.

Having informed the club that he was keen to pursue his career south of the Border, Scott Severin had spent the summer hoping to hear of developments in his bid to see his dream of playing in the English Premiership fulfilled.

After spending his entire senior career at Tynecastle, he wanted a change of scene and a fresh challenge.

With no interest being expressed, however, the midfielder, who has 12 months left on his current contract, found himself reporting back for duty in Gorgie with the rest of his team-mates. Despite his desire to quit Hearts - and who can argue against him wanting to test himself in arguably the world’s toughest league - there can be no questioning Severin’s commitment to the famous maroon jersey.

And after being named in Levein’s first starting XI for the opening game of the season ahead of Neil MacFarlane, he responded with the kind of display which could well accelerate his departure from Gorgie if it is repeated on a regular basis in the forthcoming weeks.

If Saturday was an example of what is to come from the midfield dynamo this season, then he could also soon find himself back in favour with Scotland boss Berti Vogts.

He was the main man for Hearts at the weekend, driving his team forward at every opportunity in tandem with Phil Stamp, the Englishman’s effectiveness gradually diminishing in the second half due to the effects of the chest infection which had laid him low after the friendly with Sunderland.

"Scott Severin did really well during pre-season and I said I would pick the team on merit," said Levein. "He has been very consistent, is adding things to his game all the time and deserved his place in the side. Whether his display was anything to do with his contract situation I don’t know but I am just glad he’s playing well."

Levein had gone into the game with fitness doubts over Alan Maybury and Stamp but in the end both played and it meant the Hearts boss could field his first-choice starting XI, with the exception of Robert Sloan on the left for the injured Jean-Louis Valois.

The youngster will have grown in stature after his 90 minutes and his confidence will have soared thanks to the role he played in setting up the injury-time clincher for substitute Andy Kirk, the Northern Ireland striker knocking home Sloan’s cross from the left with almost the last kick of the game.

The hosts thoroughly deserved their victory, although at such an early stage of the campaign there is still work to be done in certain areas, particularly the careless gifting of possession to the opposition which resulted in Hearts being the architects of many of their own problems against Aberdeen.

De Vries, who was given a raw deal by referee Willie Young throughout the first half in his battle with the Dons rearguard, looks much fitter than last season and it came as no surprise that it was the giant Dutchman who set his side on the way to three points.

Having proved a real thorn in the visitors’ side in the opening exchanges - he was denied by a fine David Preece save when his header from Sloan’s free-kick looked net-bound - the striker put the Jambos in front in the 16th minute with a fine solo effort.

Picking up a superb cross-field pass from Stamp, De Vries ran at the Aberdeen defence. He cut inside from the left and after turning this way and that to leave the Dons defence trailing in his wake, he kept his composure to calmly beat Preece.

Unfortunately for last season’s top scorer he was unable to complete the match after limping off with a groin injury in the second half. Levein admitted beforehand that the start of a season brings with it a mixture of excitement and trepidation but the players could not have kicked off proceedings in better fashion, Hearts winning their opening league game for the first time in four years.

It means Hearts will now head across the city for Sunday’s derby at Easter Road full of confidence.

"I would rather have got the second goal a bit earlier but it was good to get a win," said Levein.

"I was pleased with the result, it was a good start for us and we have a big game coming up next week."

The outcome, of course, could have been a lot different had Moilanen not produced a superb full-length stop from Markus Heikkinen’s second half shot and then been alert to the danger after Paul Sheerin found himself in the ideal position to grab a late equaliser, the towering Finn stretching full-length to fingertip over the midfielder’s injury-time lob.

"We restricted Aberdeen to very few chances and Tepi made an important save at an important time," said Levein, whose Aberdeen counterpart Steve Paterson was left to rue the presence of a formidable striker such as De Vries.

"He scored a special goal and for me the guy was the difference in the 90 minutes," Paterson said. "We didn’t create anything clear cut but Hearts are a strong, hard working side with no real weaknesses."

Taken from the Scotsman