Jambos strong at back but Dons stop the attack

JUDGING by the opening two league games of the season, the case for Hearts’ defence is as strong as it has ever been under Craig Levein.

On the other hand, the argument for the Jambos’ attack at the moment is somewhat less compelling.

All the evidence from the matches against Dundee and most recently Saturday’s visit of Aberdeen, suggests that such is the form of its rearguard that the Gorgie outfit will be one of the more difficult teams to score against this season.

Without top scorer Mark de Vries or auxiliary striker Kevin McKenna, though, the jury is still out on Hearts’ ability to apply a cutting edge in the final third of the park.

The SPL opener at Dens Park saw the hosts fail to create more than one reasonable opening and it was the same story on Saturday at Tynecastle when Jimmy Calderwood’s revitalised side, fresh from a 0-0 draw against Rangers the previous weekend, struggled to break down the home defence for a large majority of the game.

While it took a late Steven Pressley penalty to take all three points back to the Capital from Tayside, few who saw the match could argue that the right team didn’t win.

Hearts carved out a number of excellent opportunities at Dens, mostly courtesy of new signing Ramon Pereira but were guilty of failing to take full advantage.

And it was the same on Saturday as the Spaniard again partnered Graham Weir in attack as De Vries battles to shake off a hamstring injury - Levein has yet to see the two foreigners as a partnership for even 45 minutes after the Dutchman limped out of the pre-season friendly against Fulham.

While always willing to take the game to the Dons, though, a lack of clear-cut chances in front of David Preece’s goal proved Hearts’ weakness, the resulting stalemate in what was at times an enthralling encounter, testimony to the visitors’ game-plan and their hosts’ lack of a killer touch with the aerial route up front blocked off.

Okay, they had two or three reasonable attempts at goal but none came into the category of ‘he should have scored’.

Russell Anderson did well to clear a Pereira header off the line with Paul Hartley rushing in at the back post to bundle the ball over, while the Spaniard’s driving run and shot which flew just over the top towards the interval was the best effort of the first period.

Pereira then saw a header tipped over by Preece after 49 minutes and 20 minutes later Kisnorbo headed wide from Hartley’s corner when the Australian could have done better with the space afforded him by the Dons defence.

There was nearly a rude awakening for the hosts, though, seven minutes from time. With the game drifting towards a draw, the Dons, for whom Scott Severin was surprisingly ineffectual on his return to Tynecastle, almost snatched victory.

Craig Gordon appeared to misjudge a cross from the right to the back post from Kevin McNaughton and there was substitute Derek Adams lurking to head the ball home. However, the 21-year-old keeper, who had signed a new three-year deal earlier in the week and was named in the Scotland squad for Wednesday’s friendly against Hungary, more than redeemed himself with a magnificent save to tip the ball over the top - the stop even bringing applause from Calderwood at trackside.

A late winner then would have been cruel on the home side for whom Alan Maybury, Andy Webster, Robbie Neilson and Pressley were all excellent. In the dying moments a Pereira header looked net-bound until it struck an Aberdeen defender and so Hearts had to settle for just a point from their first home game of the season - not what Levein had wanted.

Despite just the one goal from the opening two games, the Hearts boss remains unconcerned.

"I thought we had good opportunities to score, particularly in the first half, and didn’t take them and that seemed to give Aberdeen encouragement," he said.

"We had looked solid but they did have a chance in the second half and Craig Gordon made a good save. Other than that I didn’t feel we were going to lose the match. It was whether we were going to win it.

"The lack of goals doesn’t concern me. Ramon’s had three headers which were decent chances. The keeper made a good save from one of them, another was cleared off the line with Paul Hartley coming to put it in and he had one at the back post which hit somebody.

"Paul Hartley had a shot on target which was deflected and Patrick Kisnorbo had a free header. We just need to put the ball in the back of the net basically.

"In the games against Dundee and now Aberdeen we have had a lot of attempts at goal so I’m not particularly concerned.

"Having said that, I think it could be seen on Saturday that even if we don’t score we are going to be difficult to break down.

"We would have liked to have been in front to give Aberdeen the opportunity to come out and have a go at us and then it might have been a different game.

"We had important players missing. We lacked a little bit of presence in the box against Aberdeen and I think either Mark de Vries or Kevin McKenna would have made a big difference.

"If one of them doesn’t start then the other normally does up top but the two of them are out just now and we just have to get on with it.

"With them in the side we can normally get on the end of balls into the box but we didn’t do that on Saturday and that was understandable. We looked like we would have to score the perfect goal. Even with that we had a load of headers and crosses which we could have got goals from."

He added: "I am not too disappointed. Aberdeen are in a bit of resurgency just now with the two Jimmys [Calderwood and his assistant Nichol] in now. They have them well organised and they are playing with a bit more grit. That was evident on Saturday.

"We knew it was going to be a hard game but this might be typical of games at Tynecastle this season with teams coming here and trying to make sure they don’t lose.

"But all credit to Aberdeen. They left Tynecastle with a point and that is a good result for them."

Disappointed as the Gorgie faithful may have been with the result, it should be remembered that four points from the first two games is a better start than last season for Hearts. And with the return from injury of both De Vries and McKenna appearing imminent - the signs are that at least one of them could be available for the visit of Kilmarnock on Saturday - it would seem things can only get better.

Taken from the Scotsman