Levein: We face huge task to close gap on the Old Firm

STUART BATHGATE

CRAIG Levein had the look of a man made wise by bitter experience. The Hearts coach will never become blasé about a 4-0 defeat, but adversity has long since made him aware that there is no point in verbally flaying his squad when they have been soundly beaten on merit.

It is still five years since Hearts last beat Rangers, still the best part of two since they scored against them. Levein has acknowledged that closing the gap on the Old Firm is the next big task for his team if they are to build on last year’s third place in the Premierleague, but after seeing them lose 4-0 yesterday, he accepted that Hearts are still some way behind.

"We’ve got a fair bit to go," he said. "I’m not going to be too critical - we’ve got 12 points from six games. Rangers look like they might have improved. The evidence would suggest they might be better than last year. We just fell away a bit in the second half. We pressed the game high up the park in the first half and got away with it. In the second, being just a wee bit off the pace was what got us a doing, to be honest."

Levein was even able to be philosophical about the handful of penalty appeals which Hearts had. Mark de Vries (twice) and Scott Severin in the first half, and then Phil Stamp and Andy Kirk in the second, all went down in the box without the home side receiving even one award.

The coach clearly thought some should have gone his team’s way, but he admitted that only the earliest incidents might have had a bearing on how things turned out. "I’ve had a look at the TV monitor, and I think if the referee has a look himself ..." Levein said, diplomacy deterring him for a moment from directly blaming Stuart Dougal.

"The first [De Vries] one was a penalty, Phil’s was a penalty, and I think Andy’s was," he continued, "but the latter two would have been irrelevant. If the first had gone in it might have made a difference."

Levein is still at loggerheads with the SFA over the remarks he made last season about a referee and his subsequent treatment by the authorities, but he certainly does not feel cowed into silence by the dispute. "The person who doesn’t make a mistake doesn’t exist," he said when asked again if Dougal had got it wrong. You can take that as a yes.

One positive aspect of the match from a Hearts point of view - perhaps the only one - was the unexpectedly early return from injury of Jean-Louis Valois. The Frenchman has barely returned to training after an Achilles injury, but came on for the last half-hour and should be involved in Wednesday night’s UEFA Cup match against Zeljeznicar.

"I hadn’t planned on using Jean-Louis today," Levein said, "but I thought to myself if I could get some playing time out of him it might help for Wednesday night."

Whether Tepi Moilanen makes it after being forced off with a knock in the closing minutes remains to be seen. The Finnish goalkeeper’s clash with Egil Ostenstad led directly to Rangers’ fourth, and Levein’s counterpart at Ibrox was understandably delighted by the way his team had played.

"It caps a wonderful week. We’re delighted to come away today having won both games," Alex McLeish said, referring to the Champions League win over Stuttgart in midweek.

"Maurice Ross had an excellent game, Emerson and Arteta were very influential, and the goals were truly outstanding."

Taken from the Scotsman