De Vries the hero for vintage Hearts

STUART BATHGATE AT STADE CHABAN-DELMAS

Bordeaux 0
Hearts 1 De Vries (78)

Referee: K Jakobsson (Ice).
Attendance: 15,336

A PRECIOUS poacher’s snatch of a goal from Mark de Vries and a massive collective display in defence combined to give Hearts one of the best European results in their history last night.

Bordeaux will be dangerous in the second leg of this UEFA Cup second-round match, as they showed deep into stoppage time here when Marouane Chamakh came desperately close to equalising, but Hearts are still in a far better position than all but their most optimistic fans had believed possible.

The young goalkeeper Craig Gordon was in truly outstanding form on his European debut, but all 14 players used played a part in a dramatic win. If the Scottish side believe the game is as good as won they could be in trouble back at Tynecastle, but if they play as well as this and maintain their self-discipline they must have an excellent chance of progressing to the third round for the first time since their memorable run of 1989.

The visiting supporters, who had spent the afternoon soaking up the unseasonal sunshine, arrived virtually en masse at the ground, their numbers looking a bit greater than the forecast 3,000. There was probably not one of them who had correctly predicted their team’s starting 11, for while Levein had promised to change the formation from the customary 4-4-2, the departure from the norm was more radical than had been anticipated. Andy Webster was, as expected, restored to central defence alongside Steven Pressley and Kevin McKenna, but instead of playing full-backs either side of that trio, the manager opted for what he called "a flexible 3-6-1".

Robbie Neilson and Patrick Kisnorbo were thus listed as midfielders, though clearly they would be expected to drop back as necessary and form part of a back five. Similarly, the selection of Dennis Wyness in midfield allowed Hearts to switch swiftly from a one-man attack to a two-man.

It was, all the same, a surprise that Wyness should be preferred to the in-form Andy Kirk as one of three alterations to the line-up which began last Saturday’s 3-1 win over Livingston. Webster and Maybury were the other additions, with Scott Severin and Paul Hartley the other two to drop out.

The formation may have been unfamiliar, but Hearts fitted into it as if they played that way every week. In fact, curiously, it was a far more composed performance in the opening stages than had been managed in the same period of their last league game, and for more than 15 minutes Hearts stifled every attempt the French side made at mounting an attack.

The first thing that came close to meriting the description of an attempt on goal did not arrive until the 21st minute, and came from a Hearts player. Jean-Louis Valois was the man in question, but his free-kick from close to the byeline, awarded after a foul on Neilson which actually looked like it had been committed inside the box, curled harmlessly wide of Ulrich Rame’s goal.

Though they had been limp and lacklustre in those opening stages, Bordeaux slowly began to make more effort to raise the tempo. First a fierce shot by David Jemmali was well saved by Gordon, then minutes later a drive from Pascal Feindouno was a foot or less too high. Just before the half-hour, the same player again went for an ambitious shot after dispossessing Valois, but the result was the same.

Such attempts, though wayward, were at least evidence of Bordeaux’s intention to turn the screw gradually. The proddings of their influential midfielder Paulo Costa were more incisive, the runs of Jean-Claude Darcheville up front more menacing.

Hearts were by no means penned back into their own half, and as the interval approached they began to produce more menace of their own. The best chance of the first period - and also its last, it turned out - came five minutes before the break, when instead of going for goal with a centrally placed free-kick from 30 metres out, Valois slid a diagonal pass out to the right, from where Neilson sent a dangerous ball over to the far post. Before the ball could reach either De Vries or McKenna, Feindouno headed dangerously back towards his own goal.

Rame just got a hand to the ball, and got enough purchase on it to send it past Wyness, who was sliding in in search of a rebound. It was a reminder that Hearts, while rightly wary of the threat posed by their opponents, were far from being outclassed. As half-time sounded, though, it was clear that the Edinburgh side would need to be as rigorous and alert in the second 45 minutes.

Four minutes after the restart they were reminded of that need when Darcheville created a chance out of nothing and came close to opening the scoring when he shot just over the bar. Ten minutes later, the same player had a shot cleared off the line by Webster, and Gordon then did well to hold on to a follow-up from Paulo Costa.

Hartley came on for Valois, then Austin McCann was introduced after an injury to Neilson, as Levein sought to reinvigorate the team for the closing stages of the game. Bordeaux pressed again, but Gordon saved well from Mauricio Pochettino.

Just as a desperate rearguard action looked on the cards, Phil Stamp won a free-kick midway up the Bordeaux half. McKenna eluded his marker to head Hartley’s chip across goal, and Rame could only palm the ball into the path of De Vries, who tapped in.

Bordeaux: Rame; Alicarte, Basto, Jemmali, Jurietti (Deivid 80), Pochettino, E Costa, P Costa (Riera 66), P Feindouno, Chamakh, Darcheville. Subs not used: Roux, Caneira, Planus, Miranda, Sahnoun.

Hearts: Gordon; Neilson (McCann 72), McKenna, Webster, Pressley, Kisnorbo, Maybury, Stamp (Severin 79), Wyness, Valois (Hartley 68), De Vries. Subs not used: Moilanen, MacFarlane, Kirk, Weir.

Taken from the Scotsman