Robertson's return sunk by red card

GRAHAM BEAN

JOHN Robertson’s first game in charge of Hearts turned out to be a frustrating affair after the club’s new head coach saw his side lose 1-0 to Schalke 04 in Group A of the UEFA Cup at Murrayfield last night.

The game turned on the 47th minute dismissal of Patrick Kisnorbo, who was shown a second yellow card for diving after he was challenged in the German side’s penalty box. The Hearts midfielder admitted he’d "milked it a bit" as he looked for a penalty, but was adamant there had been contact from Niels Oude- Kamphuis, Schalke’s Dutch international midfielder.

The visitors pressed home their numerical advantage as the second half wore on and won the game thanks to a raking 30-yard drive from the Brazilian midfielder Lincoln in the 73rd minute. It was a bitter pill for Hearts to swallow. The Edinburgh side had defended well without asking too many questions of the Schalke defence and Kisnorbo was suitably contrite afterwards.

"I feel I’ve let the team down," the Australian said. "The first thing I did was apologise to the new manager and to all the coaching staff and the boys. At the moment it’s the lowest point of my career."

Nikolai Ivanov, the Russian official, allowed play to continue before booking Kisnorbo when the ball went out of play. He showed the same player a yellow card in the first half for dissent.

Hearts, who lost their opening group game to Feyenoord, now travel to Switzerland in three weeks’ time to face Basel. It’s a match they must win to have any realistic chance of progressing to the knockout stages, but they will have to face the Swiss without Kisnorbo and Paul Hartley, who was booked last night and is also suspended.

The result leaves Hearts pointless at the bottom of Group A and Robertson said: "The sending off was a turning point, because up until then we had contained them. We’ve watched the incident on TV and it’s a bit inconclusive. He did get clipped but whether it was enough to get a penalty.

"It was another eccentric decision on a night of eccentric decisions. We then decided to go to 4-5-1 in an attempt to keep it tight and nick a winner, but we’ve lost a goal to a tremendous strike."

"Craig Levein said I was inheriting a very honest, hard-working squad who would give everything, and they did that tonight. It was just a pity we couldn’t dig something out for the fans."

The former striker’s homecoming to the club he had served with such distinction throughout the Eighties and Nineties had sparked huge interest and 27,272 turned up at Murrayfield to the prodigal’s return. It was Hearts’ highest home crowd for a European game in over 30 years and Robertson was delighted with the attendance.

"Tynecastle’s our home, and that’s how it should be, but an extra 8-9,000 were able to watch the game tonight who wouldn’t have been able to do so if the match had been at Tynecastle."

Ralf Rangnick, the Schalke coach, felt his side were worthy winners. "Before it was 1-0 we had two or three clear-cut chances. I was pleased with the way my team played and I feel we deserved to win. Hearts were well organised and it was difficult for us to play against them.

"If they win their next two games they will still be in the reckoning - this is not a compliment but a reality."

Rangnick, who had been in charge of VfB Stuttgart for a UEFA Cup clash with Hearts four years ago, added: "It would have been tougher for us at Tynecastle - my memory of that was that it was even worse for the away team."

Taken from the Scotsman