Hearts 2 - 1 Livingston

ROB ROBERTSON at Tynecastle December 05 2005

LOOKING too far ahead is never a good idea in football. However,as Hearts supporters streamed out of Tynecastle on Saturday night the talk was of the "big one" on New Year's Day against Celtic.

A home win in that much-awaited fixture will slap Graham Rix's side's championship credentials well and truly on the table. There may be a few games to go before that showdown but such is the confidence at Tynecastle just now the talk is all about the visit of the Parkhead club.

The signs remain good for Hearts despite the fact Livingston nearly snatched a point near the end of what was a rip-roaring match.

If that had happened it would have been the fault of Rix's own players who started strongly,missed a load of chances,then were nearly made to pay for it.

Victory was sealed through two magisterial first-half strikes from Rudi Skacel although an Allan Walker goal for Livingston just after the hour mark gave the home side some nervous moments.

The most notable scare was when a Gabor Vincze throw-in deceived the Hearts defence and went straight into the net. As Livingston players celebrated referee Alan Freeland ruled that no-one had touched the ball and disallowed the goal.

It was just one of several incidents which enlivened a dreich Gorgie afternoon where the persistent rain failed to dampen the spirits of the home support.

Vladimir Romanov,the owner of Hearts who now has more than 80% of the shareholding in the club,was again in his seat in the stand and once again his countryman and prodigy Saulius Mikoliunas was in the starting line-up.

Many believe that the reason for the Hearts title challenge has been the performance of the midfield where Paul Hartley and Rudi Skacel have been linchpins.

Skacel and Hartley are the forward midfield players while Julien Brellier is a vital conduit between defence and attack despite the fact Romanov is not a fan of the Frenchman and used to ask former manager George Burley why he was in the side. That leaves Mikoliunas on the right-hand side as a possible weak link.

The Lithuanian internationalist invokes great debate from Hearts supporters. Some see him as a free-flowing winger others believe he is a liability who cannot defend. After watching him on Saturday,and on numerous occasions over the past 10 months,I tend to side with the latter camp.

Since Rix has taken over Mikoliunas has returned to the fold despite Burley's assertion that he was too lightweight.

His performance against Livingston suggests Burley is right The Lithuanian's deficiencies could prove to be insurmountable as a crucial period of fixtures approaches.

Just how much Romanov is pulling Rix's strings remains to be seen but it clear they need another proven right-sided midfield player if they want to maintain their quest for the championship.

Rix looked relieved to get his first home game under his belt but admitted it was a day of mixed emotions. "I can't say I enjoyed it and it was always tense out there," said the Hearts manager. "However I was pleased by what I saw.

"Obviously it was vital to get a victory and to some extent it didn't matter how we got it.

"It was a bit nervy at times when the score was 2-1 but having said that we created so many chances. If we had knocked five of six goals in it would have been the correct score."

Although they deserved to win,it certainly wasn't by five or six. Livingston could not legislate at the quality of the Skacel strikes but once they had weathered the storm played some nice passing football. The influence of manager Paul Lambert is clear to see and one fluent move ended with Paul Dalglish shooting just wide.

The West Lothian outfit made a real game of it and were unlucky not to steal a share of the points after Hearts passed up late opportunities to make the game secure.

Next up for Hearts is a home fixture next week against Inverness Caledonian Thistle while Celtic have a tricky home match against the mercurial Hibernian. The way Tony Mowbray's side have been playing in recent weeks makes that a difficult game to call but the Hearts supporters will be cheering from the rooftops if their Edinburgh rivals take anything from Parkhead.

The fact the Hearts bandwagon continues to roll on despite controversial statements from Romanov and his meddling in team affairs shows how important having an experienced band of players at a club is.

It is all well and good to talk about promoting young players but one look at the Hearts line-up shows there is no substitute for experience.

They have ignored all the off-field controversy,adapted to losing Burley as manager and reacted well to the appointment of Rix. Away draws at Aberdeen and Motherwell were creditable performances and to follow that up with a home win is all which have been expected of them.

The search for the club's director of football continues and comments from Roman Romanov,the club chairman,that he has been appointed already and has been acting in secret for the past few weeks are clearly ridiculous.

Many at Tynecastle are questioning whether a director of football is needed and whether he will ever be appointed. Such has been the intrigue surrounding Hearts this season only time will tell if anything happens on that front.

Taken from the Herald