Dream is slowly dying for Rix

Kilmarnock 1- 0 Hearts
Michael Grant at Rugby Park

THIS season in Scotland has been packed with all the ingredients for an extended episode of Tales of the Unexpected, but what can be said with certainty is that the odds on Hearts winning the championship lengthened again last night.

If Celtic get a victory at Motherwell today Hearts – the runaway early leaders – will be 10 points adrift. Not that anyone had to consult a league table last night to get an idea of the way the championship race is beginning to settle. Yesterday Hearts looked nowhere near good enough to be champions.

There were mitigating factors such as the absence of some key players, but a minute’s silence for former chairman Wallace Mercer set a sombre tone and their afternoon never improved. Neither side was blameless in an ugly, sour-tempered match but Hearts were the chief culprits as frustration over their inability to get the better of Kilmarnock spilled into petulance and niggly offending.

Even their supporters bought into the victim culture being cultivated recently by Vladimir Romanov with anti-SFA chants whenever a refereeing decision went against them. Hiding behind conspiracy theories does not do them justice.

Hearts had none of the vibrancy and flair of their thrilling win at Dunfermline last weekend, let alone the firecracker impact of their 4-2 win here on the opening day of the season. Neil McCann’s return to the club lasted just 23 minutes before he limped out with a knee injury, the seriousness of which will only be apparent today.

“Even before Neil McCann went off I sensed we were not ‘there’ today,” said manager Graham Rix. “I said to the guys they have to realise they are a big scalp now, they are there to be beaten. They have to handle that in every game for the rest of this season and probably next season as well.

“We never got going. In the first half especially we weren’t at the races, nowhere near determined enough. A mishit or a missed pass seems to sow that seed of doubt in their minds. They have to have enough about them to play their way through it.”

Kilmarnock’s Jim Jefferies wore the broadest of smiles, which is a story in itself. Had Gary Wales and Colin Nish converted second-half chances this win would have been emphatic. If there is anything which could disappoint Jefferies and his club this weekend it will be the fact so more attention will be given to what the result means to Hearts than to what it revealed about Kilmarnock’s ability to endure without Kris Boyd.

The play was raw and uncompromising. There were periods in which Steve Conroy, the referee, had a tenuous control. Steven Naismith earned a caution for a foul on Robbie Neilson and quarter of an hour later the roles were reversed and the Hearts full-back was booked for a retaliatory challenge.

In no way was it a private conflict between these two, though, and the final card count of six yellows might have been higher.

McCann’s first game back in the SPL after two-and-a-half years fizzled out quickly when he limped off as a result of the injury suffered in a thundering challenge by David Lilley a couple of minutes earlier.

McCann is long enough in the tooth to know that he would not be in for much mollycoddling on his return to Scotland, but that would not have made it any less painful.

McCann had not been around long enough to allow any judgement on how he might have enhanced Hearts’ performance. With one early pass low across the Kilmarnock box to Michael Pospisil, though, he set his new team-mate up for a finish but the attempt lacked conviction and the ball drifted wide.

Who knows how much McCann might have contributed, but without him there was no one providing any drive or focus to Hearts’ attacks. Pospisil saw an effort saved and Takis Fyssas later cut in from the left to shoot into Alan Combe’s arms, but those amounted to manageable threats to Kilmarnock’s goal.

The game passed by Paul Hartley, the ineffectual Saulius Mikoliunas lasted only until half-time and the front pair of Pospisil and Elliot may be inexperienced but if they are to be judged in the context of a league- winning forward line then they lack the requisite quality. Edgaras Jankauskas and Roman Bednar, both absent through injury, complete a quartet of strikers at Hearts but not one of them impresses as a goalscorer.

Two players who have contributed more than their fair share in that respect this season, Rudi Skacel from midfield and Steven Pressley at set-pieces, were both suspended yesterday and in the absence anyone capable of building their attacks they were often on the back foot as a result of Kilmarnock pressure.

If Hearts could be forgiven a grievance about going behind just 30 seconds into the second half it would have been over the fact Kilmarnock’s pressing play up to that point had resulted in only one clear attempt on Craig Gordon’s goal, namely a Garry Hay free-kick tipped over the crossbar by the Scotland goalkeeper.

Invincibile chipped the ball to Nish and continued his run in the hope of a return pass. Nish tried to turn and shoot instead but the ball was blocked by Christophe Berra and broke perfectly into Invincibile’s path for him to bury his second goal in two games.

Hearts’ response was admirable in terms of reacting to the setback with their best spell of prolonged possession in the game. Had Elliot been on target with a flashing header from Jamie McAllister’s free-kick they would have been level with half an hour left to find a winner.

The pursuit of an equaliser left them vulnerable, though. Wales caught their defence too far upfield and raced through only to blast a poor finish past the post. When Wales got free again after wrestling clear of Neilson, who was fortunate Conroy missed him handling the ball, Hearts were wide open and his sensible low cross for Nish demanded a tap-in finish but the forward’s complacent effort hit the post.

His team-mates teased him afterwards, amid much hilarity. Celtic, sensing a growing lead in the championship, could allow themselves a smile too.

Taken from the Sunday Herald