Hearts' hopes damaged by SPL Caley on

PAUL KIDDIE
AT TYNECASTLE

SHOULD Hearts ultimately fail in their quest for Europe, they may well reflect on the SPL forcing them to play Inverness Caley Thistle with a severely-depleted squad.

The Gorgie club’s plans for Saturday’s clash had been plunged into chaos by a flu virus which ripped through the dressing-room last week.

A plea to the top-flight bosses to have the game called off fell on deaf ears, boss John Robertson having to go into the game without ten recognised first-team stars.

The ailing Robbie Neilson, Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley, Jamie McAllister, Neil MacFarlane, Mark Burchill, Kevin McKenna, Stephen Simmons, Phil Stamp and Marius Kizys all missed out. With Saulius Mikoliunas suspended and Michael Stewart and Patrick Kisnorbo still recovering from injury, it was a nightmare scenario for the Hearts manager as he attempted to maintain his challenge for third place.

With Aberdeen and Hibs locking horns at Pittodrie, the visit of Craig Brewster’s side had represented a golden opportunity for the Tynecastle side to take a significant step towards UEFA Cup qualification for the third season running.

It was an opportunity which went begging, however, Robertson’s weakened starting XI becoming another notable scalp for the Highlanders, whose draw against Rangers at Ibrox last weekend had come just days after a resounding victory over the Hibees.

Failure to make Europe and a potential cash jackpot - and Hearts are by no means out of the race - will of course not be down to just one result. But the SPL’s decision certainly made life more difficult.

After the events of the previous week in the aftermath of the infamous penalty award to Rangers, was it really any surprise the decision went against the Edinburgh side? Despite his selection headache, the team which Robertson sent into battle showed just three changes to the one which took to the field at Dunfermline.

Jason Thomson was handed his first-team debut at right-back in the absence of Neilson, Neil Janczyk started only his second game of the season following his outing against the Pars in September and Graham Weir was afforded a rare chance up front alongside Lee Miller.

Seventeen-year-old Thomson was the only player never to have previously figured in the top team, the teenager lining up in Hearts’ youngest-ever SPL defence alongside Lee Wallace (17), Christophe Berra (20) and skipper for the day Andy Webster (22).

The teenage full-backs were the only real successes for the Jambos, who found the comparative inexperience elsewhere in the team too big a hurdle to overcome against streetwise opposition. The centre of midfield, in particular, was where the battle was lost for the home side. Without the considerable presence of the talismanic Hartley - he has scored 14 times this season - as well as the industrious MacFarlane and rejuvenated McAllister, Hearts were always going to struggle.

Talented as Janczyk undoubtedly is, he requires an experienced team-mate alongside him in the engine room for his ball-playing skills to be effective. Wyness, at 27 the oldest player in the Hearts ranks on Saturday, assumed that role but as hard as he worked it was obvious he is not a natural midfielder.

With Joe Hamill and David Cesnauskis largely ineffective and Miller and Weir failing to test Mark Brown in the Caley goal, it was the visitors who emerged victorious.

Brewster’s side should have taken the lead as early as the 12th minute when Roy McBain’s header from Stuart Golabek’s deep cross appeared destined for the back of the net until Webster intervened with a last-ditch goalline clearance. The best the hosts could offer was a speculative long-range shot from Hamill, which was always rising just too quickly.

Nine minutes after the restart Wyness should have broken the deadlock when a poor clearance from Darren Dods fell to him in excellent position only for the former Inverness star to send a header onto the top of the net from eight yards out.

The Jambos were forced to pay dearly just 60 seconds later when Richard Hart’s free-kick into the area found the Hearts defence posted missing as the unmarked Dods sent a header over Craig Gordon into the right-hand corner of the net.

"We knew Caley would cause us problems at set-pieces as we were missing a lot of height in the team but it was a terrific header from Darren Dods," said Robertson.

"It was unfortunate as we had started the second half really well after not looking like losing a goal in the first 45 minutes. After they got their goal, they deserved to win the match, so let’s not take anything away from them and it takes them closer to safety."

In the 57th minute, Ross Tokely sliced a clearance off his own bar but there was precious little else to concern the visitors, even a rare sighting of Ramon Pereira in place of Cesnauskis failing to spark the hosts. The Spaniard apart, the rest of the Hearts bench told its own story with Gary Tierney the oldest outfield player available at 19.

With 72 minutes on the clock, the game was over as a contest and again the home defence caused its own downfall.

Berra was short with a pass-back to Gordon allowing Barry Wilson to latch onto the ball inside the area. The keeper raced off his line to clear but only succeeded in sending the former Livingston star tumbling, Wilson picking himself off the turf to convert the penalty.

Robertson finished with five strikers on the field, including the teenagers Hjalmar Thorarinsson and Calum Elliot, but there was to be no late fightback.

Indeed, the sight of Hamill having a fresh-air shot from the edge of the box summed up a depressing 90 minutes for Hearts.

"It was a tough shift for everybody," conceded Robertson. "Caley bossed the midfield and that’s where they won the game."

The announcement that Aberdeen had beaten Hibs 3-0 at Pittodrie failed to bring even a muted response from the Gorgie faithful, whose team now trail the third-placed Dons by six points. Many of the 9822 fans who turned up had left by that stage and Robertson insists the club’s supporters deserve an explanation.

"We put out our strongest team available and it just wasn’t good enough," he said. "No disrespect to the players who started but if I had put out that team three days before a cup tie we’d have been fined for being under-strength.

"Questions should be asked as we were just looking for fairness. We did what we were told to do and played the game but somebody has a bit of explaining to do to the crowd as they paid good money to see a product on the pitch and they didn’t get to see that on Saturday which is disappointing."

The win took Caley a huge step closer to survival and Brewster said: "The way everything was highlighted before the game I thought we were in a no-win situation. I knew they would still have a strong squad and it was only the young full-back who hadn’t played in the first team.

"Hearts tried hard to get the game off and while we had sympathy with them, it was not our decision."

Taken from the Scotsman