Burley initiation ends with a drab draw

ALAN PATTULLO
AT TYNECASTLE

Hearts 1 - Webster (82)
Middlesbrough 1 - Yakubo, pen (79)
Referee: K Toner. Attendance: 15,152

GEORGE Burley's first home match in charge of Hearts was played out in front of a full house, but is unlikely to be remembered for much more than a dizzying succession of substitutions.

The new Hearts manager sought to bring some urgency to his preparations for a startlingly imminent new season, with ten players brought on during the course of a game which ended in a share of the spoils.

Although a new signing did score it proved not to be the one Hearts wanted. While Rudi Skacel made a promising debut it was Aiyegbeni Yakubo, the powerful Middlesbrough striker signed this summer from Portsmouth, who opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 79 minutes. Andy Webster evened up a game no-one deserved to win with a far-post header from Joe Hamill's corner just three minutes later.

Burley said: "I am more than pleased. It was a better performance than I could have hoped for with the new players all gelling together. It was chalk and cheese to a week ago."

The debatable level of value games such as these provide was not really an issue last night since Hearts had given way every seat in the house for free, with 15,152 taking up the offer. Perhaps the club's benevolence was in recognition of the fact that Burley has barely had time to put his feet beneath his desk, never mind fashion a team that might display anything near the cohesive quality he will expect in the weeks and months to come.

Starting Afresh was the title of one article in the match programme, and it was the theme of the evening in a stadium buoyed by events of the summer. Burley's arrival is reason for much of this but also impossible to ignore was the feel-good factor inspired by Chris Robinson's departure. Legendary former player Donald Ford took to the pitch at half-time, and enthused about a long and hard road having been negotiated. Prior to kick-off he presented chairman George Foulkes with a set of crystal glasses in recognition of the work he has done in facilitating the dawn of this new era.

It meant that for the first time in a long time everyone involved with Hearts was pulling together, with an additional energy provided by the combined efforts of a group of players on the field who were hoping to impress Burley.

Even the Hearts regulars could probably name more players in the Middlesbrough line-up than those starting in maroon, with the Tynecastle side fielding five trialists and also giving Skacel, signed on Tuesday from Marseille in a year-long loan deal, a debut. One of the players listed as a trialist should not have given the home fans too much trouble identifying. Skipper Steven Pressley has been reduced to this status due to a problem having arisen with his contract negotiations. While he has, for the time being, rejected a deal with Hearts, six others were looking to win one, with a further two trialists listed on the bench.

Among them was right-back Sebastien Schemmel, the former Le Havre and West Ham player who has already been on trial at Celtic this summer. He looked the most impressive of the new temporary additions in the early stages of a game which, although granted a sizeable audience, struggled to break free from almost inevitable mediocrity.

Sadly for Michael Pospisil, the former Sparta Prague player, his chance to impress lasted a mere nine minutes, with an injury forcing him to leave the field and be replaced by Calum Elliot. Another trialist's opportunity was over by half time, with Julien Brellier, who'd looked steady in a withdrawn midfield role and was once on the books of Inter Milan, taken off after 39 minutes. Lee Wallace took his place.

The comings and goings, added to the unusual look of the Hearts team, made for a fractured match. It was little surprise that Middlesbrough, in the initial stages of their own pre-season schedule but with far fewer new faces to assimilate, crafted the first and most glaring of opportunities.

Yakubo burst through the middle of the park before playing a one-two with Gaizka Mendieta. When the ball was flighted back it looked the easy option to direct the ball into the Hearts net. Instead, he flicked the ball wide in what was a moment of slackness he will hope has been shaken off here in Edinburgh, in a nothing-at-stake friendly.

Ugo Ehiogu then tested Craig Gordon after a mistake by Andy Webster had given him a chance to shoot from a tight angle. It prompted a series of heated exchanges between Pressley, Webster and their goalkeeper, with the game mattering greatly to these three great competitors at least.

It mattered also to those seeking to grasp a future for themselves and the tall No9, Roman Bednar, could have done his chances a deal of good had his flashing header not travelled the wrong side of Brad Jones' post in 20 minutes. Brellier then had a decent half-volley tipped over. It was something to savour since the second half, when it came, drifted to an anonymous conclusion, with only the substitutions enlivening the proceedings.

Another trialist, Edgaras Jankauskas, saw service, coming on for Elliot. The powerful former Benfica and Real Sociedad striker became the sixth change to be made to a Hearts starting-line up which will no doubt see much more alteration before the season kicks off in nine days' time, and indeed, was tampered with a further four times by Burley by the time the whistle sounded.

The manager added: "We will hope to bring [the trialists] into the squad and one or two we are working on, and hope to confirm in the next few days. I won't name individuals, but there were some good displays by both signed players and trialists."

Hearts: Gordon, Schemmel (Sives 83), McAllister (Hamill 57), Pressley (Berra 70), Webster, Brellier (Wallace 40), Mikoliunas (Cesnauskis 66), Hartley (Thorarinsson 86), Bednar (Rimkevicius 46), Pospisil (Elliot 10, Jankauskas 66), Skacel (Tierney 75). Sub not used: McDonald.

Middlesbrough: Jones, Parnaby, Queudrue, Parlour, Ehiogu, Southgate, Mendieta, Yakubu, Viduka (Kennedy 60), Boateng, Johnston (Liddle 73). Subs not used: Knight, Clough, Burgess.

Taken from the Scotsman