Hearts forced to graft for win

STUART BATHGATE AT TYNECASTLE
SOME games are there to be endured rather than enjoyed, and this one was a case in point for the teams and spectators alike. It was a frustrating afternoon for Caley Thistle, who came away with nothing after contributing a fair amount, but for the home team it was a match which ended in relief - and not just because they held on for the win.

Already fretting over the fitness of Mark de Vries for Thursday’s return UEFA Cup tie in Portugal, Craig Levein had to watch on anxiously as Craig Gordon, Alan Maybury, Steven Pressley and Jamie McAllister all went down with knocks in the second half. The absence of the Dutch striker against Braga would be a big enough blow, but to lose a few more influential players would be demoralising indeed.

Fortunately, all of that quartet made it through to the end of the match, and Hearts’ early lead survived too. Paul Hartley was responsible for that, as he has been for so much of his team’s better play recently, nipping in to nudge the ball past Richard Hastings then chipping nicely over the Inverness goalkeeper Mark Brown.

With only quarter-of-an-hour on the clock, that goal should have been the signal for the home side to relax and start playing some football. Instead, their efforts to get on top of Caley Thistle became increasingly laboured, and in the second half the visitors had a couple of chances - a header by Ross Tokely and a shot from Stuart Golabek - which came close to yielding an equaliser.

With De Vries being joined by several other strikers on the treatment table, Levein chose to play Dennis Wyness as the only front man. A 4-5-1 formation at home to the league’s bottom team may be a touch on the cautious side, but with the only other striker available to him being the 17-year-old Calum Elliot, who eventually came off the bench to make his competitive debut, the Hearts coach did not have too many options.

And, for all that he insisted this match was about the garnering of league points instead of preparing to defend a 3-1 lead against Braga, Levein is likely to play something similar to that 4-5-1 line-up in three days’ time. While poor entertainment in itself, then, Saturday’s match could turn out to be ideal preparation for what, if they get through the tie and progress to the new group stage of the UEFA Cup, will be a richly rewarding experience for Hearts.

Club captain Pressley, for one, had been in serious need of a match before the European tie, as he confirmed later. "It was important for me to get 90 minutes in before Thursday, because I’d missed a couple of games on the bounce," said Pressley. "I’m not quite 100 per cent yet, but come Thursday I’ll be raring to go.

"It wasn’t a vintage Hearts performance today. There were some tired legs out there. We didn’t play particularly well, but we dug in and got the all-important result."

And that, it should be said, is something Hearts had failed to do in the league of late. Having kept a clean sheet in each of their first three league games, and taken an impressive seven points out of nine, they suffered a reversal of fortunes in the following three, which yielded just one point out of nine, and in which they scored not a single goal.

The victory at Murrayfield against Braga and last week’s CIS Cup win over Kilmarnock have brightened the picture somewhat, but, after an opening-day performance against Dundee which promised much, Hearts have so far failed to hit the heights this season. The loss of Pressley at the back and De Vries up front has been part of the reason for this, and Levein still thinks the Dutchman has no more than a minimal chance of playing against Braga.

"We’ll probably take him with us anyway to see if we can get him on the bench," the coach said. If there is any hope at all even of squeezing 20 minutes out of De Vries, he will be named among the substitutes, such is his value to the team. Ramon Pereira, too, has a chance of making it back, and that would be a considerable boost as well, for without those two Hearts are conspicuously lightweight up front.

Elliot, who came on for Wyness, is strong for his age and capable of looking after himself, and would give Levein another option as a target man if neither De Vries nor Pereira pass fitness tests. Otherwise, there could be a recall for Graham Weir, who has been out with mumps, but Weir, who stands a few inches over five feet, is simply not the kind of get-out man required on an evening when the defence will be spending a lot of time seeking to relieve the pressure.

Still, all those questions and quibbles aside, Pressley for one is in optimistic mood as the club approach their biggest game in recent years. "There will be times in the game where we have to defend for our lives, but we should take great confidence from our two professional away performances in Europe last season," he added.

"I believe if we get into the group stages we can give a good account of ourselves. It would be a massive achievement for the players, and we really are desperate to do that on Thursday."

What Inverness are desperate to do is add to the solitary victory they have achieved thus far in the SPL. They can take consolation from the fact that they have not been playing too badly - this single-goal defeat followed an identical loss to Rangers - and from the form of Livingston, who are only two points above them.

The 11th-placed club, whether it be Livingston or another struggler, will be the main focus of John Robertson’s thoughts. "We’ve got 31 games to finish a point above somebody," is how the Caley Thistle manager is looking at his team’s debut season in the top flight. "We’re a good honest team, well organised and fit, but we need to find that end product. We need a break."

Hartley (15)

Referee: K Clark. Attendance: 10,340

Taken from the Scotsman