Hearts 3-0 Dunfermline

Alan Campbell at Tynecastle

HEARTS, rather than referee John Rowbotham, decided to stop this fight with 35 minutes remaining . By then the home team, three goals up, decided not to inflict further damage on a desperately under-strength Dunfermline side.
The Tynecastle club are expected to have a new owner this week, and if prospective buyer Vladimir Romanov let himself down a few days ago with absurd comments about the side overtaking Rangers and Celtic, Hearts played with verve and poise to secure a convincing victory . There may be tears ahead, but for now John Robertson and his players are enjoying the moment.

Dunfermline, who could not even field a recognised striker, were uncompetitive, and manager Davie Hay, who lost Craig Brewster in unforeseen circumstances to Inverness Caley, badly needs his casualty list to ease.

There was barely a minute on the clock when Derek Stillie was forced to make a save for the injury-ravaged visitors. Ramon Pereira and Robbie Neilson were involved in the build up and Mark de Vries chested down the latter’s cross into the path of Dennis Wyness. The striker, whose confidence has returned since John Robertson replaced Craig Levein as manager, hit an accurate volley which extended Stillie.

With so many players missing, Hay was forced to deploy a defensive formation, with only Gary Dempsey, normally a midfielder, up front. Unfortunately for the Dunfermline manager, his recast line-up held the hosts at bay for only 11 minutes.

Gary Mason had earlier stopped Dunfermline from going behind with a clearing header, but there was no reprieve when Joe Hamill swung over a cross from the left and Wyness, unmarked at the back post, nodded the ball into the net. The goal was his fourth of the season, all of which have been scored since Levein left for Leicester. The irony is that the former manager talked up Wyness when he was playing badly, but Robertson’s preference for a passing game is more suited to the striker’s style.

Despite the promptings of Barry Nicholson, who earlier had been just wide with a header under the watchful eye of new Scotland manager Walter Smith, the vibrancy flowing through the Hearts side was only going to lead to one outcome.

The second goal almost arrived on the half hour, when first a powerful Pereira shot was deflected for a corner and then, from the set piece, Hearts worked a lovely move involving Hartley, Hamill, Patrick Kisnorbo and, finally, de Vries. The big Dutchman swivelled and shot, but missed the target.

Scott Thomson, the industrious and constructive left-back, and Nicholson both had half-chances for the visitors, but neither came as close to scoring as Andy Webster, who twice within a minute was just inches away from putting his side further ahead.

The half-time consensus was that Hearts should have been out of sight, and they wasted no time doing just that on the resumption. The ball was played through to de Vries in the Dunfermline box, he laid it off for Pereira, and the Spaniard gleefully slammed it past Stillie.

That would have been enough, but a third followed in the 55th minute. Greg Ross, one of the players Hay had plucked from the fringes of his squad, brought down Wyness in the box and Hartley, also under Smith’s scrutiny, demonstrated the confidence of his side by whacking the ball, with aplomb, past Stillie.

End of contest, but there was a scare for Hearts when substitute Phil Stamp was stretchered off. The midfielder was making his return from a calf injury, but he had merely gone over on his ankle.

05 December 2004

Taken from the Sunday Herald