Tynecastle a difficult place to pick up points

MARK BONTHRONE

FOR a team to challenge towards the top end of any league they need to make their home arena something of a fortress and with yesterday’s 1-0 win over Dunfermline making it three consecutive victories for Hearts in Gorgie there are signs the Jambos are doing just that.

The Tynecastle outfit have seen off the challenge of Aberdeen, Dundee United and now the Pars to pick up a maximum nine points from their run-outs in the Capital, but it is the manner in which they have done so which will have most impressed all those connected to the club.

Six goals for with none conceded does point to a real belief among the Hearts players that they are more than capable of beating anyone when on their own patch

The real test will come, of course, when either of the Old Firm visit Gorgie, but for the moment the Jambos look capable of dominating their opponents, defending well before applying the killer touch when it matters.

In the two home fixtures prior to yesterday’s game the Tynecastle team ran out victorious with relative ease, and although the Fifers may have put up a sterner test the end result was the same - another three points in the bag which have helped moved Hearts into third place in the Premierleague.

The Jambos were rarely threatened and with the likes of Phil Stamp, Scott Severin and Neil MacFarlane bossing the midfield they always had a stranglehold on the game that they never looked like loosening.

If there were any failings in the display it was perhaps in the final third of the pitch when the wrong option was too often chosen, but to their credit the team persevered and finally got their just reward with little over an hour on the clock when Dennis Wyness showed the kind of skills that had persuaded Craig Levein to bring him to Edinburgh as he twisted and turned beyond three defenders before burying the ball past a helpless Derek Stillie.

After that there only looked like being one winner in the game and although Hearts rarely looked like adding to their tally nor did they look likely to concede as they set about protecting their advantage in a professional and organised manner. And the way in which his side ensured the points would be staying in Gorgie delighted Levein.

"I was very pleased with the way our defenders kept Stevie Crawford and Craig Brewster quiet as I consider them to be two extremely good players and a very potent partnership," said the Hearts boss.

"When I think back on the game they had very few chances so that tells you we defended well. They will be up the top end of the table without a shadow of a doubt so it was a good win for us.

"At times the teams cancelled each other out as they were exceptionally well organised and although we created opportunities there wasn’t that much that was clear cut. We kept going though and I’m pleased with that."

Levein had said prior to last weekend’s win over Dundee United that there wasn’t any point in having strength and depth to the squad if you weren’t prepared to rotate players and again he was true to his word as he fielded a team that showed several changes to the last he named.

Out dropped Paul McMullan - who had looked short on confidence against Ian McCall’s men - and in came Robbie Nielson at right back.

That necessitated a switch of flanks for Republic of Ireland internationalist Alan Maybury who, just as he had last season, filled in at left back to provide cover for the inexperienced Joe Hamill who was named on the left wing.

On the bench there were also three new faces with Patrick Kisnorbo and Graham Weir coming in for Kevin McKenna and Andy Kirk while Paul Hartley filled the space left by Nielson’s promotion to the starting XI.

Towering Dutch striker Mark de Vries looks to have started the season on fire and although he failed to get on the score sheet yesterday he was at the heart of all that was good about the home team’s performance.

Despite netting 15 times on his debut season last year he faded towards the end of the campaign and at times looked less than 100 per cent mobile.

With a full pre-season under his belt, however, he looks like a new player with an improved first touch, an excellent ability to hold the ball up for others and a work-rate that sees him run from the first minute to the last.

He already has two cracking goals from previous games at Tynecastle this season to his name and although the work put in during yesterday’s 90 minutes may not grab him as many headlines it was just as important to the team.

He proved to be an excellent foil for the less physical Wyness and the signs are there that the pair are beginning to develop what could prove to be a productive partnership.

De Vries could have been celebrating as early as the sixth minute when he seemed to anticipate David Grondin’s back-pass towards Stillie and nipped in between the pair. But thankfully for Grondin his goalkeeper was also quick to spot the danger and raced from the goal-line and narrowly beat the Dutchman to the ball before thumping it to safety.

The former Aberdeen stopper again showed his worth midway through the half when Severin rose well to meet a MacFarlane cross only to see his powerfully and well placed ten-yard header clawed to safety by Stillie who was at full stretch.

Severin’s height was again posing problems four minutes from the break when he this time got on the end of a long throw from Neilson but he wasn’t able to direct his effort on target and he flashed his header narrowly over the bar.

The visitors should have learned from their first close call with a short back pass but incredibly they almost contrived to gift the opening goal to De Vries again with 58 minutes played when Lee Bullen this time failed to spot the Dutchman’s 6ft 4in frame standing between him and his goalkeeper.

He tried to play the ball back to Stillie who just won the race to the ball to nick it from the feet of De Vries who looked poised to net his third goal of the season.

The only goal of the game did arrive just moments later and when it did it was well worth waiting for.

Wyness, signed from Inverness Caley Thistle over the summer, had come in for criticism in some quarters for failing to find the back of the net in the previous three games he had started but he silenced those doubters in some fashion.

Picking up the ball 35 yards from goal he jinked his way past Andruis Skerla and Barry Nicholson before steadying himself just inside the area to drill the ball out of the reach of the stranded Stillie.

The goal seemed to take a weight of Wyness’ shoulders and judging from the closing 30 minutes, when he looked like a player high on confidence, it looks as though there will be not only a lot more to come from Hearts but also the Highland hitman.

Taken from the Scotsman