Hearts do the ground work to pacify fans

HEARTS 2 KILMARNOCK 1

ALAN PATTULLO AT TYNECASTLE

HEARTS 2
Kirk (64) Stamp (79)

KILMARNOCK 1
McSwegan (90)

THE pie-hurling protest did not materialise, the spirit of revolution snuffed out by a bitter wind which demanded that anything hot was consumed rather than tossed at a target, however deserving.

In addition Kilmarnock provided enough stiff resistance to keep the Hearts fans engaged in events on the pitch, with chief executive Chris Robinson, the subject of some vicious abuse on internet chatrooms prior to the match, even sensing the opposition had been sufficiently becalmed to allow him to come out for the second half before his fellow incumbents in the directors’ box.

He stood there surveying the scene, taking in the sights which, if he has his way, will be consigned to rubble sooner than it takes to say ‘it’s down at Tynecastle we bide’. His contemplation was not interrupted by any missile of the pastry variety, as suggested by some fans, although midway through the second half one anti-Robinson ditty did emanate from the lower tier of the stand. As protest songs go, it was hardly Dylanesque in its construction but "Pieman, Pieman get tae..." managed to convey its message.

Robinson hasn’t got where he is today by making friends. One of his combatants, the former chairman Leslie Deans, was spotted outside the front door at Tynecastle before the game, his entry into the stadium permitted despite the ongoing war of words between him and Robinson. Deans, still bidding to invest in the club, might have picked up a "Keep Our Hearts in Gorgie" leaflet outside the ground, the only real evidence of discord. While the sentiment was noble enough, it wasn’t perhaps the day to begin agitating, a swirl of rain and sleet rendering Tynecastle an inhospitable place indeed. Most in what was Hearts’ lowest league crowd of the season wanted simply to get home as soon as possible, preferably with a win having already been negotiated.

Against this backdrop the home team were expected not only to perform, but also halt a losing streak stretching to four matches. While the acrimony at times appeared to have spilled down on to the pitch - spats between home players were erupting everywhere - there was a vibrancy on display too. It’s fair to say that while events are not always positive at Tynecastle, things are rarely dull.

Craig Levein would have settled for some tedium had it meant the end of Hearts’ losing run. Since they last appeared at Tynecastle, in the defeat against Bordeaux, Hearts had lost a further three times. While the defeat to the French side which kicked off this depressing run was disappointing, the defeats suffered on the road at Dundee United, Dundee and Dunfermline were rather more disturbing. If Hearts were to re-assert themselves as the third force in Scotland then Kilmarnock, themselves eyeing this title, needed to be overcome. And they were, eventually, though with the kind of collateral damage Hearts could have done without.

Two of their main players were forced from the pitch, captain Steven Pressley, with a recurrence of his thigh strain, in the first half and hamstring victim Mark de Vries in the second. In the contrary way of football, Hearts did not begin to flourish until De Vries had left the pitch. Auxiliary striker Kevin McKenna was pushed up front, and he, as ever, proved an effective attacking tool. Levein later claimed he won every header after his switch from defence to attack, but it was on the ground where he created the opener, hooking in an astute cross which Andy Kirk did well to meet at the near post. He played a part in the second too, releasing Paul Hartley in the box in a passage of play which met its conclusion in Phil Stamp’s firm drive into the bottom corner.

It was harsh on Kilmarnock, who were operating on the confidence supplied by three successive wins. Jim Jefferies’ side were terrific on the break, with forwards Colin Nish and Kris Boyd more dangerous than the Hearts pairing of De Vries and Kirk in the opening half. Craig Gordon, the young Hearts keeper, kept his side in the game and even found time for a set-to with his defender Andy Webster, as tempers frayed in what has been a difficult period for the Tynecastle side. Levein, who himself has experience of such in-house scrapping when a player, was "delighted" at the rammy, interpreting it as evidence of the determination present within his team. In the end this spirit guided them through a testing afternoon, though the scare at the end - substitute Gary McSwegan netted in injury time for Kilmarnock - meant that the final whistle when it sounded got the biggest cheer of the day.

It was too little too late for Kilmarnock, but Jefferies loves these returns to Tynecastle, and was spotted turning to share some banter with the home fans seated behind him. On one occasion things turned a bit nastier, Hartley and Billy Brown, Jefferies’ assistant, tussling with each other for possession of a dead ball. Jefferies sat serenely back. He has nothing to prove to anyone. Not the Hearts fans who once revered him, and not the Kilmarnock supporters who he rewarded with their side’s greatest ever Premierleague points total during the last campaign. This season might also be one to savour, with additions such as Gordon Greer suggesting this squad is more capable. This, in contrast to way forwards supposedly represented by flitting stadiums, is the progress football fans appreciate.

Taken from the Scotsman