Jambos succumb to Gers after a battling first half

HEARTS 0-4 RANGERS

PAUL KIDDIE AT TYNECASTLE

TO stand a chance of taking anything from matches against the Old Firm, teams have to be on top of their game - and hope for a strong performance from the officials in charge.

On the basis of their first-half display at Tynecastle yesterday, Hearts certainly appeared to be capable of giving Rangers a real run for their money, the Jambos giving as good as they got in the opening period.

But while Gorgie boss Craig Levein could not have asked for more from his men in those early exchanges, the performance from referee Stuart Dougal left a lot to be desired - and ultimately turned the game in the visitors’ favour.

There is no disputing the fact the champions deserved to take an important three points and return to the top of the SPL table as they dominated the game after the break.

But the outcome could have been so different had the Jambos been awarded a third-minute penalty when Mark de Vries was clearly brought down by Zurab Khizanishvili after the striker had turned his marker inside the area, the challenge more appropriate to nearby Murrayfield.

The Dutchman was left thumping the turf in dismay as play was waved on, the opportunity of a dream start mysteriously denied.

Hearts had gone into yesterday’s encounter on the crest of a wave following their impressive defeat of Kilmarnock at Rugby Park last weekend and a goal at that stage would surely have sent confidence levels soaring even higher.

But the De Vries incident was just one of four strong penalty claims the home side saw turned down by the man in the middle.

The Dutchman’s frustration at not winning the first decision was perhaps behind him going to ground rather too easily under another challenge from Khizanishvili five minutes later.

Appeal No.3 came in the 64th minute as Hearts looked to get back in the game after Peter Lovenkrands had doubled his side’s advantage six minutes after the restart, Phil Stamp sent tumbling in the box by Mikel Arteta after a surging run into the area. A goal at that stage could have set up a rousing finale to the game but Alex McLeish’s side rubbed salt into their opponents’ wounds by grabbing a third eight minutes later to effectively kill the game as a contest. Moilanen brilliantly tipped Emerson’s powerful shot onto the inside of his left-hand post, Arveladze reacting quickly to knock home the rebound, although it has to be said Michael Mols was in an offside position when the initial shot came in from the Brazilian.

By that stage it was clear it was not going to be the Jambos’ day but the Gorgie faithful’s disillusionment with Dougal increased even further when he saw nothing wrong with Henning Berg’s clumsy challenge on substitute Andy Kirk, just as the striker was about to pull the trigger 12 yards from goal.

Some cynics may suggested Hearts were given a raw deal due to their manager’s on-going dispute with the SFA after his criticism of Dougie McDonald last season. Such conspiracy theories are wide of the mark, although Levein and his players are entitled to feel they didn’t get the rub of the green at any stage of yesterday’s clash.

It’s not the first time Dougal has been the centre of controversy in a game involving Hearts this season, the whistler having sent off Hibs star Grant Brebner in the first half of the Edinburgh derby last month.

The decision was regarded as something of a joke by all those at Easter Road and, to his credit, Dougal later changed his mind after reviewing a tape of the incident involving the midfielder and Hearts youngster Robert Sloan.

Such video evidence, of course, cannot apply to such contentious decisions as yesterday’s penalty appeals. But if the official takes time to study the 90 minutes at Tynecastle in the comfort of his home this week, he will perhaps agree he called it wrong on at least two occasions.

"I have had a look at the match and if the referee looks at the game itself, he’ll see the first claim is a penalty, simple as that," said Levein.

"These are opinions but I thought Phil’s was also a penalty and also Andy Kirk’s later on.

"The latter two might not have had a huge bearing on the game. But certainly if the first one had gone in and we had gone in front then we might have seen a different game. To go in front might have given us even more confidence. Nobody is infallible and everybody makes mistakes. The person who doesn’t make a mistake doesn’t exist.

"It is part of football and I’m not one of those people who wants to shout for video evidence or anything like that. We need to take the rough with the smooth sometimes."

Rough justice or not, the fact is Hearts were soundly beaten after promising so much.

And the comprehensive defeat was compounded by a serious-looking facial injury to keeper Moilanen in the build-up to Lovenkrands’ last-minute goal which sealed the 4-0 victory.

The Finn was forced off the park after colliding with Egil Ostenstad as he attempted to get to Maurice Ross’ cross, Scott Severin taking over the gloves for the last couple of minutes with all three substitutes’ having already been committed.

Optimism in the home ranks had been high going into the match but the two goals either side of the interval put Rangers firmly in the driving seat and they ran the show in the second half with Emerson, Arveladze and Arteta stamping their authority on proceedings. The second 45 minutes was a footballing lesson for the Jambos and demonstrated just how much work has to be done to close the gap on the Glasgow giants.

"Obviously we are disappointed at the result and as a team we fell away a bit in the second half," said Levein.

"We said this would be a measure of how much we have got to go to catch up with the Old Firm - and it’s a fair bit! But I am not going to be too critical. We have taken 12 points from six games and up until the Rangers game hadn’t looked like losing goals, and to be honest we didn’t look like doing that in the first half either.

"But when the second goal went in I think we felt a bit aggrieved at being two down. Their tails went up and if you sit off Rangers and let them play then they will pass you to death.

"As a team we just didn’t perform and the longer the game went on the more we looked like a team which had been beaten."

With the visit of NK Zeljeznicar on Wednesday in the first round, first leg of the UEFA Cup, Hearts can ill afford to feel sorry for themselves for too long.

Taken from the Scotsman