Web calm as cup opens up

AS he entered a victorious Hearts dressing-room seconds after helping the club to conclude their passage into the Scottish Cup fourth round, there was one poignant thought dominating Andy Webster's mind.

Kilmarnock had been dismissed, not particularly convincingly, but nonetheless their involvement in the tournament had been ended by means of the 2-1 scoreline on Saturday. The next pressing item on Webster's agenda was the fortunes of his former club, Arbroath.

The evolving of their day was evermore pertinent to Webster because of their location in Leith, playing in the same round of the same cup competition against Hibs. It's a true saying that you can never get everything in life or football, and whilst Hearts' afternoon just about went to plan Arbroath were on the wrong end of a 6-0 burying.

The ousting left Webster contemplating alternative opponents for Hearts in the next round.

"I was hoping for Arbroath, but obviously they didn't manage it at Easter Road," said the 23-year-old. It's open to interpretation whether he was wishing purely for a reunion with some former associates or the additional pleasure for a Hearts player of seeing Hibs exit a prestigious competition. Probably both.

Whatever his motives, Webster and Hearts will have plenty of time for inner-city rivalry later in the month when Hibs arrive at Tynecastle. The following week, with Arbroath not an option, they must content themselves with Aberdeen as fourth-round opponents in another high-profile test of cup endurance.

"We have a good chance of getting through to the next round," said Webster. "We are at home again, and for that we should be thankful. I think this team is good enough to go far in the cup if not all the way.

"I've said all along that we have the players here to win most games. The cup is slightly different because it's a one-off occasion, but we can beat anybody.

"We believe we can progress in the cup, and after playing Kilmarnock three times in nine days last season it's nice to avoid the scenario of a replay at Rugby Park."

Even more so when your bunged up on the top with muscles aching everywhere else.

Webster, along with Frenchman Julien Brellier, had to haul himself from his sick bed to assume a position at the centre of Hearts' defence at the weekend with head coach Graham Rix's options depleted by illness and injury. "I was choked up all Friday and Saturday but I think when there are games on you have to get on with it. It's important to play even if you are all stuffy due to the cold.

"I was able to forget about it once I was on the park because it's not like I had something severely wrong. Once the adrenalin gets going and the game gets underway you can put it out your mind.

"It was a pretty gritty game and there wasn't much football played.

I thought we handled them fairly well and overall I think we deserve to be in the next round. They were hitting long balls into the box which were more hopeful rather than playing any kind of neat football."

Aerial bombardment tactics have never been a concern to Webster or his central defensive partner, Steven Pressley. The combination of their presence and understanding in front of Craig Gordon has underpinned much of Hearts' success this season, as well as the mini revival which has been conducted at international level under Walter Smith.

Webster was confronted by Colin Nish on Saturday with Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies striving to re-balance the apple cart after Kris Boyd's upsetting departure. The challenge was well received in the Hearts camp.

"It's good and I enjoy that kind of a battle," continued Webster. "Both boys want to win the ball, whether it be on the air or on the ground and I relish the challenge. That's the sort of thing I'll look forward to before a game; as a footballer the one-on-one battles get you going.

"At the end of the day that's the point of cup ties - to battle and get through. You are after the result and the performance must come second."

Webster's professional outlook will ensure that the concession of a late goal to Kilmarnock, scored by his direct opponent, rankles for some time with the defender, and he didn't attempt to shirk from the issue when questioned on Nish's panic-triggering strike on Saturday. "Every goal can be prevented and we didn't deal with their free-kick properly so someone's at fault there.

"The more often you put the ball in the box then the greater the chance you have of scoring a goal. That's what Kilmarnock gambled on, even more so after they got their goal.

"They were looking for a mistake so that the ball could fall to them but every goal tends to come from a mistake somewhere along the line, like somebody gives the ball away for example. In cup ties, everyone's going at it."

Behind the scenes at Riccarton and Tynecastle, Hearts are burrowing away themselves as Rix and his coaching entourage, aided by the Romanovs, attempt to reel in some fresh faces for the remainder of the season. Webster, though, derives sufficient security from the players already in Gorgie. I don't think we are really needing new players as such. I think we have a good enough squad already here to be challenging.

"We've done that over the first five months of the campaign and, okay, maybe the couple of injuries we have just now are hindering us a little but that only allows other people the chance to come into the side.

"The guys who come in always do well so I'd say we have the basis of a good squad and we can progress from here."

Jamie McAllister, a substitute and scorer of the second Hearts goal at the weekend, would be one who is likely to concur with Webster's thoughts.

His time will come soon, perhaps at East End Park this weekend, but Webster's hopes of confronting his old Arbroath colleagues in the cup must wait for another year at least.

Taken from the Scotsman