Jam Tarts crash as the 'Well runs dry

Paul Kiddie

MOTHERWELL 2
McBride, 57 O,Donnell, 67

HEARTS 0

"WITHOUT a shadow of a doubt, Hearts will finish in the top three again, as their consistency and ability are top drawer and of an excellent standard."

The bold prediction came from Motherwell boss Terry Butcher in his programme notes for Saturday’s clash with the high-flying Jambos. But it remains to be seen whether the former England skipper retains the same conviction over the Gorgie outfit’s prospects for this season following his side’s impressive 2-0 victory at Fir Park.

Before a ball had been kicked in the new SPL campaign, it wasn’t just Butcher who was looking upon the men from Tynecastle to again finish as ‘best of the rest’, most observers regarding them as strong favourites to repeat their third-place finish for a third year running.

Some even suggested they could split the Old Firm.

On the evidence of Saturday’s performance, however, the chances of that happening would appear as slim as Chris Robinson being given a standing ovation by Hearts fans this weekend. It is, of course, early days with the season just four games old. There is still a firm belief within the Hearts camp that they can keep the pressure on the Glasgow giants in the coming months but that won’t happen without a huge improvement on what was on offer at Fir Park.

Hearts were awful and could have no complaints about the outcome.

They had gone into the match with the chance of surging to the top of the table, albeit for 24 hours, having failed to concede a goal against Dundee, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock in an encouraging opening to their league challenge.

The foundation for the unbeaten start was based on some impressive defending by the international quartet of Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley, Andy Webster and Alan Maybury as well as Robbie Neilson.

However, with the exception of Gordon, who was one of the few visitors to earn pass marks on a day to forget in Lanarkshire, the rearguard was strangely out of sorts and the home side took full advantage to record a surprisingly comfortable victory.

It wasn’t just the men at the back, though, who struggled. The midfield had no answer to the Steelmen’s potent mix of youth and experience while the strike pairing of Graham Weir and Ramon Pereira did little to trouble Gordon Marshall.

The alarming dip in form could have perhaps been understood had it arrived amid the ongoing protests against the board during matches at Tynecastle or as a result of a constantly changing line-up.

But for it to come in the relative tranquility of Fir Park with the players’ receiving tremendous backing from over 2500 supporters who had made the trip through must be a source of concern for Levein, who had enjoyed the luxury of fielding an unchanged starting XI for the fourth game in a row.

In fact, such was the frustration he felt at what he had just witnessed, that the Jambos chief took his ire out on the visitors’ dressing-room wall at the final whistle and had to be whisked to hospital in Glasgow with a suspected broken hand, the team bus heading back to the Capital minus the manager.

Assistant Peter Houston therefore had the task of facing the Press afterwards, and he made no excuses for the defeat.

"We were massively disappointed with our performance and credit to Motherwell they deserved the three points," he said.

"They worked harder than us and that is not something we can say about Hearts teams in recent times. We let ourselves and the fans down on Saturday. Normally we feel we can carry one or two players but when you have seven or eight not performing to their normal standard it is a lot to cope with.

"We just didn’t work as a unit. We didn’t defend well, we didn’t hold the ball up front and didn’t get enough second balls in the middle of the park. So all in all it was just one very bad performance.

"We haven’t had to criticise the players a lot in the past for not working as hard as the opposition but it happened at Fir Park and hopefully they can put that behind them."

The hosts had the better openings in what was a dull opening 45 minutes, David Clarkson and Phil O’Donnell being denied by Gordon and Maybury respectively.

The Jambos, though, actually came within inches of going in front, Patrick Kisnorbo seeing a shot from the edge of the area strike the outside of Marshall’s left-hand post.

It was the Steelmen, though, who seized the initiative early in the second half.

O’Donnell and Leitch both just failed to make contact with a Clarkson cutback in the 55th minute with the goal at their mercy but the home fans didn’t have long to wait to celebrate the opener.

With 57 minutes on the clock, Alan Freeland appeared to be the only person in the ground to spot an infringement after O’Donnell went down in the area as Kevin McBride swung a free-kick into the area, the referee indicating Steven Pressley had been guilty of paying too close attention to the midfielder.

It was the softest of awards but McBride stepped up to thrash the ball past Gordon to swing the game in decisively in ’Well’s favour, although Houston remained unconvinced about the merits of the award.

"I was unhappy with the decision," he said. "If referees are going to give penalty kicks for that sort of challenge then there will be penalties every five or ten minutes. I saw the ref point to the spot and I have to ask ‘why?’"

That was the first goal Scotland star Gordon had conceded this season but ten minutes later he was picking the ball out of the back of the net for a second time - and again he had absolutely no chance.

A McBride corner was headed out as far as O’Donnell and the former Celtic star steadied himself before unleashing a searing left-foot volley which flew past Gordon into the top right-hand corner.

Any hopes Hearts may have had of clawing their way back into game disappeared with the early goal-of-the-season contender and in fact Gordon was forced to pull off another two fine saves as the home side threatened to stretch their advantage.

He threw himself to his right to keep out an attempted headed clearance from team-mate Jamie McAllister and then denied Clarkson at the death in a one-on-one situation as Motherwell broke swiftly upfield. By that stage, Kisnorbo had been thrown forward in a desperate attempt by Levein to snatch a goal and the Aussie’s never-say-die attitude almost paid dividends.

He had a header straight at Marshall and then worked a good shooting chance for himself only for the effort to be blocked sufficiently to allow the Motherwell keeper to save.

It was all too little, too late, though, from a lacklustre Hearts.

Throughout the 90 minutes, the travelling support had reeled out the now customary chants against chief executive Robinson. Intriguingly, though, for the first occasion in a long time, there were no Hearts directors in attendance, with messrs Robinson, Fraser and Duffin all noticeable by their absence.

They certainly picked a good game to miss.

It may well have been just one of those days for the Jambos - they must ensure there are not many more.

Taken from the Scotsman