Hearts bleed but show still goes on

MOIRA GORDON AT TYNECASTLE

HEARTS 3 - McKenna 33; Hartley 81; Wyness 90
DUNDEE 0

IT WAS obvious that these Hearts players would find the departure of manager Craig Levein hard to take, but no-one would have anticipated them hitting the bar on the day of a game. Yesterday they did, time and time again.

But while there was undoubtedly a few in the ground suffering a slight hangover following Friday’s news, the only bar which seemed to be attracting the Hearts playing staff was the one above Derek Soutar’s goal.

A fairly mundane opening spell in which the visitors looked intent on capitalising on the edginess in the maroon ranks, both on the pitch and in the stands, suddenly sparked into life when Ramon Pereira slipped a beautifully-weighted pass through to strike partner Kevin McKenna and Jonay Hernandez felled the Canadian in the box with a desperate tackle.

For denying the international striker a clear goal-scoring opportunity, the Dundee defender was shown the red-card and Hearts were awarded the penalty.

Captain Steven Pressley, who has been betraying a weakness in his spot-kick technique this term, belted the ball off the crossbar and it was cleared. A minute later, Paul Hartley’s long-ball deep into the Dundee six-yard box found both McKenna and Patrick Kisnorbo lurking at the back post and, this time, it was the former’s header which found the bar.

The game had crackled slightly about 10 minutes earlier when Craig Gordon twice had to dart off his line to deny Fabian Caballero and Steve Lovell, but once Hearts enjoyed the numerical advantage there was only one conclusion to this game.

With Levein hardly out the door, Hearts fans were already turning their attention to who should replace him and the sporadic rendition of a few favourite Robbo tunes will have ensured the board, who had met before the game to discuss an appointment, were thoroughly clued-up as to who would be the popular choice.

But while a new man will want to craft his own team, there is no doubt he will inherit a pretty decent working model. A side who have not lost at home all season, the last time they conceded all three league points on their home turf to anyone outwith the Old Firm was back in 2002 when Dundee came calling.

It was a feat Jim Duffy’s men rarely threatened to repeat, in truth.

Throughout Hearts’ faltering start to their league campaign, Levein had always insisted that every department except one was performing and promised that once the raft of injured strikers started contributing, they would again be fighting at the hilt of the table. Yesterday, an on-song Pereira and McKenna added credibility to his comments as they turned the Dundee defence inside out and helped Hearts to move above Edinburgh rivals Hibs and take up fourth place in the league.

Pereira in particular produced a performance that merited the standing ovation he was given when he left the field in the 82nd minute. A constant thorn in the side of the visitors with his ability to run at them and his pinpoint passing, the only gripe was that he wasn’t rewarded with his name on the scoresheet. It was his ball through to McKenna which had secured the penalty and he was at it again in the 33rd minute. This time there was no defender willing to halt the Canadian, and while Soutar got his hands to the fierce drive, he couldn’t stop it’s onward flight into the back of his net.

The second could have and probably should have materialised a lot sooner than it did. McKenna again managed to get the better of the Dundee rearguard but, once again, the crossbar got in the way and midfielder Calum McDonald produced a stunning last-gasp tackle on Pereira in the 63rd minute when the Spaniard was preparing to shoot.

Peter Houston, probably in the Hearts home dugout for the final time before heading south to link up with Levein, opted for a reshuffle of his pack in 79th minute and it was to prove prescriptive. Substitute Graham Weir set up Paul Hartley and he sent a beautiful shot beyond Soutar to kill off any lagging belief the travelling troops had of snatching a share of the points. Dennis Wyness was the man who faced the unwelcome task of having to live up to the exploits of Pereira, replacing him with just eight minutes remaining, but if a pocket of boos which greeted his arrival had stung, he answered them in the best possible way, netting the third goal with virtually the last kick of the game.

"The penalty and sending off had a real bearing on the game," lamented Duffy afterwards. "I thought we had started really well and looked up for the game but that decision had a big emphasis. But in terms of attitude, I’m delighted with my players."

It was Levein’s disappearance that was supposed to have the biggest impact on this match, but in the end it was Hernandez’ departure which settled it.

Taken from the Scotsman