Hearts hold the aces as patience game pays off

PAUL KIDDIE AT DENS PARK

HEARTS kicked off the new SPL season in the City of Discovery - and boss Craig Levein found out that his squad looks well equipped for the campaign ahead.

Considering he would have been quite happy with a point from Saturday’s clash against Dundee, it must have been a highly satisfied Jambos chief who made the journey back from Dens Park after seeing his men open their account with a 1-0 victory over the hosts.

The Gorgie outfit may have had to wait until six minutes from time before Steven Pressley’s match-winning contribution from the penalty spot but it was no more than Hearts deserved with the visitors having done more than enough to take the spoils long before the captain’s clinical strike.

There had been much talk in the build-up to the new league season about how the Tynecastle side were strong favourites to retain their ‘best of the rest’ crown, with some observers even suggesting they may even split the Old Firm come May.

Levein had stressed that talk was cheap, however, and his players would have to earn any success with their displays on the park when the serious action got underway.

He must have gone into the game wondering just how his team would respond to all the hype, the task of enjoying a winning start to the campaign made all the harder by the personnel missing through injury.

Target man Mark de Vries was ruled out by a hamstring problem, while Kevin McKenna, his natural replacement in attack, was also sidelined by a knee injury. With Stephen Simmons and Neil Janczyk also out and Jamie McAllister and Michael Stewart only fit enough for places on the bench, it was not Levein’s strongest team which went into battle.

But any concerns the Gorgie chief may have had of a hesitant opening performance from Hearts were eased by a display which augurs well for the challenge ahead.

"I’d rather we had scored earlier but I thought we played well, looked fairly solid and created numerous chances and most importantly won the match," said Levein.

"We got the ball into some great areas but the grass was a bit sticky and I think the strikers were more concerned with that than striking for goal when the opportunity came as we over-elaborated a little bit at times.

"We looked like we would score and the only thing I think which would have beaten us was a bit of bad luck.

"We had some good chances in the first half. Graham Weir’s had two great opportunities and Ramon hit a great shot which came back off the bar in the first half.

"These are the times when we really needed to put the ball in the back of the net and had we done so, I am not saying it would have been an easier game for us but I think the Dundee heads would have gone down a bit.

"But as long as it was 0-0 they still had a chance of winning the match and to be honest we made it a little bit harder for ourselves than it should have been.

"I thought we passed the ball well and had to use it in the channels a bit more than we do normally."

The foundation for the victory was based on a rock solid defence marshalled superbly by Pressley. With Craig Gordon, Andy Webster and Alan Maybury also starting, four out of Hearts’ back five were full internationalists - and it showed as the Dark Blues failed to provide any real threat up front.

With the back line standing firm it was up to the visitors’ attack to produce the goods and Ramon Pereira and Graham Weir worked tirelessly to get in behind Dundee’s rearguard.

The Spaniard looks a real find and was at the centre of almost all of Hearts’ attacks. He set up Weir with just eight minutes on the clock only for the diminutive front man to be denied by the legs of Derek Soutar and the former Raith Rovers star had a great chance himself after 16 minutes, his volley from Joe Hamill’s cross smashing off the bar.

The opportunities underlined Hearts’ positive start to the game and Pereira could easily have marked his first competitive game for his new club with a goal, the 25-year-old carving out another two decent chances in the first half without any luck.

Levein acknowledged that his side had lacked a cutting edge in attack during the pre-season preparations and how he must be eager to see Pereira and De Vries link up in the months ahead.

The opening goal, which Hearts deserved, looked like it was going to arrive on the stroke of half-time, Weir shooting past from a good position under pressure from Brent Sancho.

Gordon’s only save on a surprisingly quiet afternoon for the 21-year-old came seconds after the restart when he held a Neil Jablonski shot at his near post. And that was about as good as it got for the home side, who had gone into the match with the spectre of administration having been removed 24 hours earlier.

Hearts continued to have the better of the game with both Phil Stamp and Alan Maybury producing good saves from Soutar.

But it was the Dundee keeper who would prove to be the villain of the piece for the home side just as they looked like they were going to hang on for a share of the spoils.

He pulled down Pereira in the box as the Spaniard tried to round him after being put through by Hamill and Pressley stepped up to confidently convert from the spot.

The skipper had missed two penalties in the pre-season friendlies but showed little signs of nerves as he drove the ball into the right-hand corner of the net.

"Elvis says he only scores when it counts," said Levein. "He missed two in pre-season, one against Fulham and one in Canada. But he said he would score when it mattered and I think you could see he was relieved to do so.

"I was really pleased to get off to a decent start with everybody trying to hype us. There is a hell of a long way to go but the first signs are encouraging."

Taken from the Scotsman