Strike force

Alan Campbell finds the Hearts manager on the brink of a CIS Cup final with a goal-scoring problem

IT is a measure of the progress of Hearts under Craig Levein that the perception of some is that they are having a mediocre season. So mediocre in fact, that outwith the Old Firm almost every other club in Scotland would wish to swap places.

Despite possessing a collection of strikers about as effective as a damp box of Swan Vestas, the Edinburgh club are still in with a shout of finishing third in the Premierleague while remaining in the two cup competitions. All this with the distraction of a decent Uefa Cup run.

On Tuesday night Hearts meet Motherwell in the first semi-final of the CIS Cup, while on Saturday they host Kilmarnock in the fourth round of the Scottish. But Levein’s successor, John Robertson, understands better than anybody that a platform built on a mean defence and the goals of Paul Hartley will collapse unless his strikers catch fire.

For Robertson, who scored 310 goals in 720 matches for Hearts, the inability of the club’s forwards to find the net must be doubly frustrating. Not surprisingly, his first two signings since arriving from Inverness Caley in November have been forwards.

Like his colleagues in the Premierleague, penury has forced Robertson to scour the second-hand shops of England for cast-offs who might, with a bit of brushing up, provide the solution. In Lee Miller and Mark Burchill the manager has at least picked two off the rail who were proven scorers with Falkirk and Celtic.

Burchill has become the classic over-hyped Scottish striker whose goals dried up, but at the age of 24 he has plenty of time to revive a career which has been dogged by injury and hampered by a physique unsuited to the English game. Miller, who is only 21, can afford to blank out an unproductive 18 months at Bristol City.

The former Falkirk player hadn’t scored since February 17 last year, when he notched a goal against Grimsby, yet has already scored two for Hearts in 225 minutes. In theory, he and Burchill should combine well, with Miller the target man and Hearts’ latest signing playing off him.

“Mark gives us a different option with his pace,” said Robertson. “You want competition for places among the strikers. Mark had a tremendous start to his career at Celtic, but like others he’s had to leave to try and find regular first-team football. Through a combination of bad luck and injuries it’s not quite happened for him as he would have liked.

“He’s packed a lot of experience into his short career, and he’s not even close to his peak yet.”

If Miller and Burchill hit it off, they look assured to be Robertson’s first-choice strikers. Dennis Wyness, despite a brief flourish when the new manager took over, has scored just four goals this season, although even that is two more than the target man he plays off, Kevin McKenna. Another striker, Graham Weir, has only one goal to his name, while even the club’s main man, Mark de Vries, managed a mere three before departing for Leicester. Ramon Pereira, who also plays in midfield, has two.

That total of 12 goals is one less than midfielder Hartley has scored. Without his contribution Hearts would be seriously struggling, because, as well as being top scorer by a distance, he has also had the most attempts on goal while providing the most crosses.

Hartley, who was called up to the full Scotland squad by Walter Smith on Friday, has been Hearts’ most effective and dangerous attacker. No wonder Robertson and the Tynecastle directors found it easy to rebuff Celtic’s £200,000 bid for the former Hibs and St Johnstone player.

“The board have turned the offer down and said he’s not for sale and that’s the end of it as far as I’m concerned,” said Robertson, although adding: “The ball is in Celtic’s court.

“Everybody is sympathetic to Paul because he’s a Celtic supporter, but we’ve got to be realistic here. He’s our player and he’s got 18 months of his contract to run. Celtic have come nowhere near our valuation of him and we want to keep him.

“Paul is a big, big player for us in more ways than one. We know that. So why would we want to sell him?”

Although Robertson is publicly angry that his star midfielder and top goalscorer has been so unsettled by Celtic’s interest in him that he has handed in a transfer request, he believes Hartley will continue to give his all for Hearts.

“Paul is a strong character,” the manager said. “He’s had a hamstring injury the last few weeks which has caught up with him, so he was annoyed he was missing out on the match against Aberdeen.

“He knows the club’s stance on the Celtic bid and we know his stance on it. If it doesn’t go through, then selfishly we’ll be delighted. Everybody connected with Hearts will be delighted because he’s a massive player for us.

“He’ll be ready to go on Tuesday against Motherwell, and as he’s done all season he’ll go through a brick wall to try and help us get to the cup final.”

Robertson, who hopes to have another two players signed up before tomorrow night, won just one winner’s medal as a player in his illustrious career with Hearts, yet players who have barely been through the Tynecastle door for five minutes will be only a Hampden cup final appearance away from matching his total if Motherwell can be overcome on Tuesday night.

Yet if Robertson’s trophy cabinet was largely bare (and he didn’t even play in the 1998 Scottish Cup final when Hearts beat Rangers), he has made up for lost time since moving into coaching.

“You go into the management game to win trophies,” he said. “I’m fortunate in having had a good career at Livingston where we won a few championships and cups, and then at Inverness we won the Challenge Cup and the Division One title.”

On Tuesday Hearts meet a Motherwell side with the psychological advantage of having won both league matches between the sides this season.

Scotland defender Andy Webster said: “It’s a massive occasion, so we’ve got to win. Semi-finals don’t come along very often, but Motherwell will be thinking that way as well.

“They are a good side and don’t get as much credit as they deserve. Terry Butcher has put together a team that is not only difficult to beat, but can score goals and win games. We’ve found it difficult against them this season.”

If Hearts lose Hartley, the odds would swing in favour of Motherwell despite the Edinburgh side boasting a defence which lets in less than one goal a game. But even with the midfielder still at Tynecastle, the need to find a prolific striker is pressing.

He has a young Icelandic forward, Halmar Ghorridson, who came on against Livingston on Wednesday night, at his disposal, but Miller, Burchill and Wyness need to start finding the net regularly if Hearts’ season is to take off.

Taken from the Sunday Herald