Hearts assert third-force status

STUART BATHGATE AT TYNECASTLE

HEARTS 2 De Vries (42, 81)
DUNFERMLINE 1 Tod (11)

RIGHT from the start of the season, Craig Levein issued warnings of how difficult it would be for Hearts to finish in third place again, tempered with assertions of belief in his players’ abilities. This match, which confirmed the Tynecastle club would remain best of the rest behind the Old Firm, was a summation in miniature not only of the difficulties on which the coach insisted, but also of the qualities which saw his team win through.

Dunfermline, the SPL’s form side in recent weeks, have been bearing down on Hearts, and, buoyed by the optimism which an imminent cup final invariably engenders, they began Saturday’s match intent on at least pushing the fight for the bronze-medal position into the final week of the season. Six points behind with three games to play before this one kicked off, the Fifers knew that even a victory in Edinburgh might count for nothing in the end, but refused to succumb to any sense of hopelessness. They were rewarded by an early lead, but then found that Hearts were in their most indomitable mood.

The goal, an Andy Tod header from a Gary Dempsey cross, had come when Steven Pressley was off the park, receiving treatment to a bleeding head wound which would require to be staunched several times more before the end of the game. With the Hearts captain out of action for a good seven or eight minutes, it might have seemed more rational to bow to defeat and substitute him, but such was Levein’s faith in the player, and Pressley’s own desire to resume playing, that the home side laboured on a man down until the centre-back was able to resume.

The gritty defiance was typical not only of Pressley, but of the team which has been at least partly created in his own image. Inspired by their captain, Hearts were level by half-time thanks to a header from Mark de Vries, then eventually seized the winner ten minutes from the end when the Dutch striker made space for himself and squeezed a low drive from outside the box just inside Derek Stillie’s left-hand post.

Between those two goals it was Dunfermline who enjoyed the bulk of the pressure. Gary Mason did well to clear off the line after Paul Hartley had rounded the goalkeeper, but otherwise the bulk of the chances were made by the visitors, most notable being a Dempsey shot which clipped the bar on its way over.

"We outplayed them at football, but got out-battled in the end," was the verdict of Noel Hunt. The Irishman has not been the first to offer such an assessment of an encounter with Hearts, nor was this the only game at Tynecastle this season in which the visitors got higher points for artistic impression yet still lost. Livingston, to cite another example, have turned up in Gorgie, played technically pleasing football, but come off second best.

There is sometimes a pejorative implication when people talk of Hearts - or Celtic, for that matter - as a physical side, but there can also be a taste of sour grapes about that description. Football is, after all, a physical game, played in real space and time rather than some abstract realm. If you have the muscle to prevail over your opponents, it would be criminal not to use it.

Having said that, it should be conceded that Hearts, while enjoying greater consistency than last season, have had fewer aesthetic high points. They have invariably done just enough, rather than sweeping opponents aside. The financial context in which they have done so more or less determined that was the case. Continuing to make cuts while cautiously introducing several raw talents to the first team, Levein has conducted a delicate balancing act. With some way to go before he reaches the target of an £850,000 cut in the wage bill, the coach knows he faces life on the high wire for the foreseeable future. In an ideal world Levein would rather have millions at his disposal, but he also appears to relish the challenge of keeping a team growing in stature on a diminishing budget.

Levein’s counterpart, Jimmy Calderwood, can derive similar satisfaction from this season. Up a place on the last campaign, they can also reflect with some pride on their Scottish Cup run no matter if they win or lose against Celtic on Saturday week.

Calderwood is confident of having his first-choice strike force back in action, if not entirely match-fit, for the Hampden showpiece. Stevie Crawford is expected to get a run-out tomorrow night at Tannadice, while Craig Brewster will probably be back for Sunday’s last game in the league, at home to Rangers.

Like Hunt, Calderwood regarded the match as one largely decided by physical prowess, though he also pointed out that the fixture backlog forced on his team has begun to take its toll. "We’ve had an awful lot of games in the last few weeks and it’s beginning to tell a little bit," he said.

"The disappointing thing for me was that we got shoved off too many balls. But we’ve had a magnificent season."

It would be all the more magnificent, of course, were Dunfermline to beat Celtic and win the trophy for the first time since 1968, when they defeated Hearts 3-1. They have the zip and invention to worry the champions, but it may well be that, as happened here, they will once more be out-muscled.

Referee: K Toner. Attendance: 10,846

Taken from the Scotsman