Hearts equal to the task

Simon Buckland

Vladimir Romanov's expanding empire combine forces to strike a mighty blow against 'second best' champions

When it was over the Hearts smiles were broader than the gap that used to exist between themselves and the Old Firm. The Tynecastle ball boys ran onto the field waving their stools high above their heads like trophies. Rudi Skacel was doing his own personal lap of honour when he ran into Paul Hartley and placed a kiss on his cheek. It may only have been the finish of the match, but it felt like the end of an era.

Yesterday didn’t have the feel of an underdog triumphing, but an equal. The Old Firm have come up against quality in their opposition before, but whenever faced with that inconvenience, they would merely buy them. With money tighter they can no longer afford to, not least because Hearts have ability in numbers. The core of four Scotland internationals George Burley inherited has, with additional spending on loan players like Skacel and Edgaras Jankauskas, grown into a team, if not yet a squad, that is on a par with Celtic and Rangers.

Hearts will never be as big as either of the Old Firm, but they can get larger than they are. The mural of Hearts fans on the inner sides of the Wheatfield Stand symbolised all those without tickets who couldn’t get in with capacity limited to 17,379. Two of the three penalty decisions Kenny Clark, the referee, got wrong went right for Hearts, but any luck didn’t go much further than those misjudgments; victory overall was merited. Alex McLeish, the Rangers manager, admitted his team were “second best in the individual battles”. Fernando Ricksen blamed too many of his colleagues “not getting their performances right”.

Burley’s pre-match message to his players as they spent the night before the game at Dalmahoy was very much that the pressure was on Rangers. It certainly is now. “It won’t be easy for us because Hearts have more margin for error,” said McLeish. Whatever Rangers are missing, and McLeish seems unsure, Hearts have it. Next week at Falkirk they even get to go for their very own nine-in-a-row.

“I think everybody expected us to slip up when we played the Old Firm, but it just shows how far we’ve come,” said Hartley. “Did I think we’d be 11 points ahead of Rangers in September? Not really after all the turmoil that went on over the summer. The manager had hardly any players when he came in. Hopefully we can keep everybody fit, that’s the main thing because we’ve not got the biggest squad.

“Hopefully we can still be near the top come January when I’m sure the manager has got his transfer targets to come in.” The only trouble is that the owner, Vladimir Romanov, may have his transfer targets to come in as well and Burley may get those instead. In the final days before the last transfer window all Burley received was one player he had never seen, Samuel Camazzola, and another he allegedly didn’t rate, Ibrahim Tall.

Hartley spoke of “three or four more players” being required to “get the squad really right” and that may be a conservative estimate given they are already labouring with injuries; Roman Bednar, yesterday’s matchwinner, has ligament damage while Takis Fyssas only got 32 minutes out of a patched-up knee. Their respective replacements were Stephen Simmons, who isn’t even a forward, and Jamie McAllister. These players were good enough for Hearts last season. Not this though. In any revolution there have to be victims of change. When Nacho Novo limped off with an ankle problem, Francis Jeffers replaced him: that is the difference.

There will be euphoria at the confirmed arrival of a more competitive Scottish game, but perspective is required. This was Hearts’ second 1-0 game inside four days and they lost the other one to the Premierleague’s bottom club, Livingston, in the CIS Cup. Hearts were depleted at Almondvale, but the reality of a long season is that come March or April a team with a similar number of injuries and suspensions will have to claim points.

Burley had more than 30 interview requests last Friday alone. “People said it would be great to challenge the Old Firm and the interest in the rest of Britain and Europe in us doing that is great for Scottish football,” said Burley. “People are talking about it again now.” The only drawback is he cannot control what they are saying. Burley confided he was listening to a radio phone-in earlier this week when one caller claimed Hearts would still finish “sixth or seventh”.

He listens to the wireless then, but quips that he sounds “like a gramophone” in his repetition. Burley is going no further than to say that a third-placed finish and European qualification would be a significant achievement in itself. “We were 42 points behind the Old Firm last season,” he said, in what is becoming one of his standard reminders.

It remains probable that if Rangers finish above Celtic they will still win the title and vice versa. Perhaps come May, everybody will be slightly embarrassed at how excited they got back in September.

Yesterday, however, it was only Rangers who felt that way.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk