Warm welcome for Severin

The great Hearts paradox was evident again at Tynecastle yesterday, their compact stadium packed to the rafters and generating an atmosphere that any other club in Scotland – and on a day like yesterday that includes the Old Firm – would surely die for.

And yet it is Hearts, we are told, who must face certain death if they remain there. The proposed flit from Tynecastle appeared to move ever closer this week, and there was the now mandatory protest from the home fans yesterday.

At bang on 3.30pm, they raised their white sheets of paper en masse, with the latest variation on the ‘Robinson must go’ theme – this one a week late, since it related to Big Brother. One of these days, Chris Robinson will calmly raise a white piece of paper himself, though its message may not be repeatable.

There could perhaps be only one person present inside Tynecastle yesterday afternoon who may beg to differ with the assertion that, on days like these, it is difficult to imagine a better arena for football. There was hardly a spare seat, in the home or away ends, and the ann ouncer’s request to “make some noise” was heeded: by Hearts fans who, as well as other preoccupations, seemed eager to put Scott Severin off his game on his first return to Tynecastle; and by Aberdeen fans equally keen to vocalise their pleasure at stealing the former Hearts stalwart away from the Edinburgh club.

It is little wonder Severin did provoke such strong feelings on both sides. He and Steve Tosh make a formidably combative midfield pairing, while Markus Heinkinen, with his more subtle touch, provides balance. The trouble yesterday was that the trio’s qualities only really became apparent in the second half, when Aberdeen were finally able to hold the ball, pass it and begin to put Hearts under the kind of pressure they themselves endured throughout a torrid first half.

“We were under the cosh,” admitted Calderwood afterwards, and it was difficult to argue.

Hearts started fast and, on a sweltering day, ran the show, maintaining a ferocious tempo. “In the last 25 minutes Hearts seemed to run out of ideas,” offered Calderwood later, but perhaps it wasn’t so much ideas as steam that deserted Craig Levein’s team.

The pressure built steadily but perceptibly throughout that first half. Paul Hartley was a livewire, Phil Stamp was immense and Ramon Pereira, though he was booked mid-way through the half after tangling with Xander Diamond, and appearing to aim his forehead against the Aberdeen defender’s, provided skill and the threat of a goal.

Indeed, it was Pereira’s run after 40 minutes that created one of Hearts’ better chances. Picking the ball up on the half way line he ran powerfully past three players before shooting over from 20 yards. It was Hearts’ most direct move of the half, even of the game.

And this lack of directness, with Mark de Vries and Kevin McKenna both out injured, does appear to be a problem. Levein conceded as much later: “We have to score the perfect goal just now – that’s what it looks like. But we are missing important players just now and we lacked presence in the box.”

Pereira had a header tipped just over the bar four minutes into the second half, as it looked again that Aberdeen’s best hopes lay with the counter attack. On one such dash Steven Craig was felled by Stamp, who was booked. From the free kick Noel Whelan and Andy Webster tangled in the box, which brought one of several penalty claims by Aberdeen – Calderwood claimed later there were “four or five”.

The most convincing of the lot came barely 30 seconds later, when Alan Maybury chopped down Kevin McNaughton as the defender raced into the box. Yet the white noise generated by the Aberdeen fans behind Craig Gordon’s goal failed to move referee Kevin Toner.

Coming into the last 25 minutes, this was Aberdeen’s spell and for the remainder of the match the pattern of the first half was reversed. It was Hearts who found themselves under the cosh, yet they created their best chance from a Hartley corner, when Patrick Kisnorbo jumped cleanly to make contact, only to see his header float just high and wide of the left post.

In the last minute Hearts won a free kick, after a one-two between Hearts new boy Michael Stewart – on as a substitute for the final 10 minutes – and Pereira ended with the Spanish striker being brought down on the edge of the box. Calderwood, remembering previous trips to Tynecastle with Dunfermline, and losing late goals, could only watch through his fingers as Stewart wasted the opportunity, blasting over. There was no celebratory jig this week from the new Aberdeen manager – just a satisfied smile.

Levein, meanwhile, could not resist damning Aberdeen with some faint praise. “That’s a decent result for them.”

15 August 2004

Taken from the Sunday Herald