No excuses, Hearts well beaten

JIM KEAN AT FIR PARK

Motherwell 2 McDonald (25), Fitzpatrick (39)
Hearts 0

Referee: C Murray. Attendance: 7,390

VISITING fans might have felt slightly anxious had they looked at the Fir Park team sheet beforehand to discover Hearts were apparently going to start the game with just ten men.

They would have been positively panic-stricken, however, once things got under way and it quickly became apparent almost every member of John Robertson’s squad had gone missing. In the circumstances, one AWOL Jambo was the least of their worries.

The last time the Tynecastle side stopped off in this part of Lanarkshire, the then manager Craig Levein was so incensed by their display he took his frustration out on the tactics board and ended up in hospital with an injured hand.

A quick scan of Robbo’s person revealed no such physical scars this time but the mental ones were undoubtedly there. The Hearts coach has clearly been somewhat irked lately by what he perceives as a widespread failure to give his team the credit they have deserved, but this was one occasion he himself ensured they were suitably rewarded for their efforts.

"All the plaudits go to Motherwell and that was embarrassing," said Robertson although he was also quick to admit his own culpability in the events that had left him shame-faced. "I pick the team so I have to take the responsibility and make sure the things that went wrong don’t resurface."

Despite this being Hearts’ fourth defeat at the hands of Motherwell this season, Robertson quite rightly refused to "buy in" to any talk of Saturday’s opponents holding some kind of Indian sign over his players because the reason they lost this one had nothing to do with jinxes.

On their earlier visit to the same ground, they got turned over because Motherwell played far better and that was the case once again. What nonplussed most observers, of course, was that recent results had suggested exactly the opposite outcome, with Hearts and their new Lithuanian imports on a real roll and Motherwell struggling badly in the league.

For some of us, it was strangely reassuring to have it confirmed that two legs or four legs, form doesn’t always work out.

Terry Butcher’s men could be called the winners from a long way out and bar a very early Dennis Wyness shot that didn’t cause Gordon Marshall a great deal of concern and a similar effort from Stephen Simmons which the keeper was similarly dismissive of, the men from the East were never in it. Even so, knowing first hand the great rivalry between the two towns, it was surprising to see Motherwell allow anyone called Hamilton take the penalty they were awarded when Lee Wallace upended Scott McDonald and Craig Gordon duly saved Jim’s very weakly hit spot-kick.

On another day, that might have roused a sluggish Hearts into action but in this sort of mood, dynamite couldn’t have done the trick and it wasn’t long before they were behind. Stevie Hammell burst into the box and although Gordon managed to push his shot away, McDonald followed up to score.

Number two could easily have been avoided but Wallace and Simmons couldn’t quite make up their minds on which of them should clear so Marc Fitzpatrick nipped in and made the decision for them.

Gordon, who got a tad tetchy when asked later on about the inconsistency of Hearts’ performance, was the only player Robertson exempted from criticism and a few of his team-mates may not like what they hear this morning when their manager conducts his post-mortem.

"I believe in certain standards and today, we didn’t achieve them. I will have a chat with the players about things but we have to be positive and remain confident that we can get back to third place in the league," added Robertson. Likely to figure high on the topics up for discussion is a way to successfully deal with not so much Motherwell, but a style of play his team clearly have difficulty getting to grips with.

Having seen his team blow a two-goal lead in the recent CIS Insurance Cup semi-final at Easter Road, Butcher claimed he really wanted a third to ensure Hearts didn’t perform another comeback but deep-down, he must have known, as we all did, it wasn’t an afternoon for any Lazarus act.

This was Motherwell’s first league success since December and with the monkey off their back, Butcher will now hope for more of the same before his team meet Rangers at Hampden next month.

Taken from the Scotsman