Levein's gutted as fortune fails to favour brave Hearts

PAUL KIDDIE AT TYNECASTLE

HEARTS boss Craig Levein was left to rue the rub of the green as Celtic left Tynecastle with all three points after a titanic struggle in the Capital.

Before yesterday’s visit of the Glasgow giants, the Gorgie chief had said his team would have to be at the top of their game and also hope things didn’t go their opponents’ way for the Jambos to have a chance of success.

Levein certainly could not have asked for any more of his players as the home side gave as good as they got for long spells against the runaway league leaders. However, he is also entitled to feel somewhat frustrated that fortune didn’t favour his brave Hearts in the 1-0 defeat.

There are invariably a number of talking points when these two teams meet in the Capital and the most recent one arrived after just two minutes of yesterday’s meeting.

Prior to kick-off, the home fans had been busy venting their anger at chief executive Chris Robinson and his plans to move to Murrayfield and it didn’t take long for temperatures to rise on the pitch.

With both teams waiting for Rab Douglas to take a goalkick, controversy erupted just inside the Hearts half as Andy Webster fell to the turf clutching his face after an incident involving John Hartson.

Webster’s team-mates were furious, the suggestion being that the big Welshman had flattened the Scotland star with an elbow. Craig Gordon certainly thought so, the keeper charging out of his area to remonstrate with the Celtic striker, who tried his best to maintain a picture of innocence.

The flashpoint was missed by the television cameras but assistant referee Brian McGarry certainly had a clear view of what Martin O’Neill later described as some "argy-bargy", and called Clark over to explain what had happened.

It was puzzling, then, to figure out exactly why the experienced whistler felt a yellow card ample punishment when most people, including Hartson himself - he admitted to Webster afterwards that he thought he was heading for an early bath - reckoned a straight red would be produced.

If an arm had been raised then the rules are clear - he had to go.

"I don’t want to go into it," said Levein, "but Webby [Webster] felt he was elbowed and I don’t understand the booking if it was an elbow."

It was a crucial decision by Clark and one which Hearts fans no doubt feel would have gone the other way had the roles been reversed. Whether the dismissal of the Welsh internationalist would have altered the eventual outcome is open to conjecture such has been the form of the Parkhead outfit.

O’Neill’s side went into the clash on the back of a record 18 straight league victories, Hearts, in fact, the last team to beat them in the SPL back in April last year when Austin McCann’s last-minute wonder-goal effectively sent the championship flag to Ibrox.

One thing is for certain, though, in this type of form the men from Gorgie would have posed a severe test for a Celtic team shorn of the services of the influential Hartson for almost the entire match.

It will come as no consolation to Levein that his team were magnificent and will play a lot worse this season and win, the Gorgie outfit producing another good display after the recent fine showing against Rangers in Glasgow.

The outcome, however, was depressingly familiar for those of a maroon persuasion involved in games against the Old Firm, although O’Neill must have been a relieved man to head back along the M8 last night with his 11-point lead at the top of the table restored.

By the time Hartson had left Webster crumpled on the turf, Phil Stamp had already come close to opening the scoring, Douglas somehow blocking the ball behind for a corner as the Englishman tried to bundle it home from close range after excellent play from the recalled Dennis Wyness.

Scott Severin blasted a 25-yarder at Douglas in the third minute and tested the Scotland No.1 with an even better effort from 30 yards with his weaker left foot six minutes later.

The keeper had done well to maintain his concentration after earlier being struck by a coin thrown from the Hearts section in front of the main stand, an incident which looks set to land the club in bother with the SFA.

The impressive start from Hearts kept the visitors on the back foot in the opening exchanges but as the half-hour mark approached there were signs that Celtic were becoming more of a threat and a dubious offside decision against Henrik Larsson after a superb flick from Hartson saved the home side.

Moments later, though, and the deadlock was broken. Larsson benefited from the break of the ball in a challenge with Webster before playing in Stilian Petrov, the Bulgarian bursting into the area and cracking a shot past Gordon, the ball going through the legs of the unfortunate keeper.

Hearts were entitled to feel aggrieved at trailing at this point although Paul Hartley, who enjoyed his best game for the Jambos, had a golden chance to level things in the 39th minute. A Patrick Kisnorbo cross from the far side drifted into the box and found the midfielder in an ideal position to head past Douglas from just outside the six-yard area, his effort criminally failing to test the keeper.

If Hartson can count himself fortunate to have stayed on the park, then so, too, can team-mate Chris Sutton.

Having already been booked in the first half, the Englishman appeared to dive in an attempt to win a penalty early in the second period and could easily have received a second yellow for persistent fouling as the match wore on.

In the 61st minute, Mark de Vries offered up another good chance when he dragged a shot wide of target after being set up by Stamp, although Petrov was then guilty of equally slack finishing when he blazed over from an excellent position. Steven Pressley came to his side’s rescue with a brilliant block to deny Hartson in the box then Larsson shot wide as Celtic threatened to notch a second.

Gordon then did well to deny substitute Craig Beattie with a point-blank stop two minutes from time to keep his side’s hopes alive.

While there was just the one goal in it, there was always hope for Hearts and Graham Weir almost nipped through in the dying seconds only to be denied by the impressive Stanislav Varga.

Few could have argued that the Jambos’ efforts did not merit something from the game, although Levein was again left to regret his side’s failure to take chances against the Old Firm.

"Disappointment doesn’t describe how I feel at not taking anything from the match," he said.

"We had numerous chances and when you are on top against a team of Celtic’s quality you really have to put the ball in the back of the net. All credit to Celtic, though, they defended well when we threw everything at them.

"It’s a long time since I’ve seen Celtic happy to just kick the ball up the park to relieve the pressure and that tells you we had them worried for a period of time."


Taken from the Scotsman