Hearts sink again

Moira Gordon

DUNFERMLINE 2 Derek Young 21, Wilson 62
HEARTS 1 Maybury 41

IT HAS not been a good December for Hearts so far. Ousted from two cup competitions and suffering their second successive league defeat yesterday, this time at the hands of Dunfermline, they allowed the East End Park side to close the gap on them to just three points.

"It has been a poor run of results, but not a poor run of form," Hearts manager Craig Levein said afterwards. "Luck is a small word, but it can mean a hell of a lot at times. But I’m not too downhearted. It’s a cruel game sometimes and the guys are gutted because they put so much into it but, unfortunately, things didn’t go our way."

Luck may be a factor, along with a draining schedule, but it remains something akin to a mini-crisis for a club who have earned a reputation for bouncing back quickly from defeat before confidence has the time to suffer. They showed their mettle again yesterday, coming back from a goal down, but when Scott Wilson headed home a Darren Young cross in the 62nd minute there was no way back. The will was still there, right up until the final kick of the ball, but Hearts lacked the know-how and the break of the ball.

Dunfermline boss Jimmy Calderwood conceded that fortune had favoured his side but was still willing to enjoy the result. "We’ll play better than that and lose games, but Hearts are very, very resilient and even when they are playing badly they can grind out results. That’s why the pleasing thing for me was that we can beat a team of this quality by battling."

After his midweek flash, James Grady may be coming to realise that size doesn’t matter, but when it comes to SPL games Hearts and Dunfermline combined to prove that experience does. Minus captain Steven Pressley at the core of the defence and Mark De Vries up front it was a young Hearts side who took to the field desperately looking for a win to halt their losing streak which had stretched to three games. Defeats to Bordeaux in the UEFA Cup, Dundee United in the league and Dundee in the CIS Cup had all come in the absence of the skipper - and he was missed once again yesterday.

Although Alan Maybury is thriving in the stand-in role, upping his own standards and appealing for others to do the same, he just doesn’t have the same influence. With Kevin McKenna’s height and aerial ability being utilised up front in the absence of the big Dutchman De Vries, Levien dispensed with his preferred 4-4-2 formation, mirroring the hosts’ 3-5-2 instead. It made for a fresh-faced backline, and up against a wiley campaigner such as Craig Brewster they missed Pressley’s ability to read play and marshal the troops.

Dunfermline, although hardly creaking at the joints themselves, had managaed to sprinkle enough years and experience in key areas to make it count.

Up front, Brewster and Stevie Crawford have been a difficult proposition for most opposition defences this term, thanks in no small part to their ability to hold up play and bring the midfield into the game, as well as their almost telepathic understanding of each other’s flicks, feints and backheels, and, with a hoard of willing bodies streaming in from deep to assist, they remain a dangerous side on the attack.

But when the opening goal did come, it was against the run of play. Chances on goal had been pretty even, but the greater share possession had belonged to Hearts. Paul Hartley and McKenna had both forced Dunfermline keeper Derek Stillie into early action, but the home side were more creative in the build up to any opportunities they did have and with one move in particular worthy of a greater reward. It was the 13th minute when Derek Young crossed the ball in from almost out at the corner flag, Crawford dummied and Brewster’s effort was deflected round the post. The veteran striker had another effort in the 17th minute before Scott Severin sent a header from a Hartley corner narrowly over the bar at the other end. When the opener came it was courtesy of combined Brewster/Crawford build up play, with the latter cheekily back heeling the ball into the path of Derek Young and he belted it beyond Craig Gordon.

A player who had not scored since his summer arrival from Aberdeen, he opened his account last week and now he’s started he doesn’t seem to want to stop.

A tougher midfield than they have had since the departure of Ian Ferguson, there was spirit to Dunfermline, assisting the frontline as well as the defence to give them a more resolute look than of late. That served to limit the genuine chances Hearts could muster. The one that did get beyond them was stariught from the training ground.

A Hartley free-kick was played across the field to the waiting maybury, who struck it first time from 30 yards out to beat Stillie. It was a well-taken strike and justly deserved for a guy who could not have given any more for the cause.

But for once they weren’t the ones eking out the points - and how Dunfermline’s fans enjoyed it.

Taken from the Scotsman