McAllister faces fight to taste second dose of Cup glory

Different cup, different colours. McAllister is preparing for today’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against his old club. He was not named in the Scotland pool that Walter Smith convened in Manchester. These days he has a fight on his hands to hold down a starting place for Hearts. He should do that this afternoon, but John Robertson, his manager, has options in his team selection which will only increase in the summer, when he expects to sign “four or five” new players with funds provided by Vladimir Romanov, the club’s new majority shareholder.

His immediate rival for the left-back position has emerged from within. Lee Wallace made his debut in the previous round of this competition, against Kilmarnock. In the 2-2 draw at Tynecastle, Wallace played at full-back with McAllister providing security ahead of him, a role he filled earlier in the season when Alan Maybury filled in behind him. In the replay, Wallace kept his shirt and scored a great goal, while the wide midfield positions were taken by the attacking flair of the Lithuanian wingers, Saulius Mikoliunas and Deividas Cesnauskis. McAllister was on the sidelines.

“There’s lots of competition, but it’s good for the team and I’m sure the manager’s delighted because it gives him a welcome headache,” said McAllister. “You know if you have a bad game then you’re out of the team. I just want to keep my form up and hopefully get involved again.”

He’s right about the manager. During the protracted, messy Romanov takeover, Robertson faced the press like they were defenders blocking his route to goal. No, he didn’t know what was going to happen with the Lithuanian-based banker’s bid. No, he hadn’t been given a budget. Didn’t anyone want to talk about football? These days he is far more relaxed, even if it remains perfectly clear that he would rather be on the training field than in the media room within the club’s training base at Heriot-Watt University. He is confident that he will have the resources to succeed or fail on his own merits. Confident that Hearts are moving towards his vision of a team “with a responsibility to entertain”. Confident that Wallace is only one of up to half a dozen members of the under-19 squad capable of stepping up to the first-team pool if required. Christophe Berra, the centre-half who will play next to Andy Webster with Steven Pressley suspended today, and Hjalmar Thorarinsson, the teenage Icelandic striker who scored in the CIS Cup semi-final defeat by Motherwell, are also on the fringes of the first team. “We looked at Lee and decided it was time to throw him in,” said Robertson of the 17-year-old left back. “He’s done well, but he’ll be due a rest soon as well, because we don’t want to give him too much too soon.” Will that rest come today? “Maybe.”

McAllister may also be right about one bad game costing you your place, then. Against Motherwell last week, Wallace conceded a penalty that was not converted, hesitated as Marc Fitzpatrick scored the second goal of a 2-0 defeat and was generally given the runaround by Scott McDonald. For all Wallace’s promise, Robertson is likely to recall the more experienced McAllister.

If that is the way it goes, the full-back could play once more at Hampden where, less than a year ago, he sprang out of Livingston’s defence, broke clear of Hibs’ high backline and placed a killer finish past the on-rushing Daniel Andersson for 2-0. It was a sweet strike for McAllister, who had been released by Aberdeen in the summer of 2003. He was on the beach, wondering what the future held, when Livingston telephoned with the offer of a one-year deal. For all the good that telephone call did him, it also put him on a sinking ship.

“There were things going on when I was there and it got gradually worse,” said McAllister of the financial cloud that darkened Almondvale last season. By the time his contract expired, the club was in administration, where they remain, with the Lionheart Consortium yet to assume total control.

“It actually brought all the Livingston players closer together as a group,” said McAllister. “We did well last year through the hard times, so there is a bit of fear that the trouble will spur them on.”

This season, Livingston have been worn down, not fired up, by the chaos around them. Manager Davie Hay made way for Allan Preston, the favoured choice of the preferred bidder, Lionheart leader Pearse Flynn, until his dismissal in November. “It’s impossible to say whether the club would be in the situation they are now if Davie Hay had stayed, but what I do know from my time there is that the players respected him,” said McAllister. “He was a great manager, great with me and a really good coach. Pearse is his own man and, at the moment, it’s up to him who he wants in control. He went for Allan Preston initially and as far as I’m concerned he didn’t give him enough time, but again it’s his call. I don’t know, maybe it would have worked out differently had Davie stayed.”

Now Richard Gough is in charge, but Livingston are still strong favourites for the drop and Hearts are strong enough to get by them today. McAllister’s abiding memory of the Scottish Cup came as a 22-year-old in 2000, when Rangers beat Aberdeen 4-0 in a final that was decided after three minutes, when Rod Wallace clattered into Jim Leighton and Robbie Winters donned the gloves. McAllister will probably not need such a dramatic change in his position to make sure he has a part to play this year.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk