Penalty rescues a point for Hearts

AS A potentilly destructive influence, Vladimir Romanov is beginning to rival Guy Fawkes. Whatever PR may emanate from Tynecastle over the harmony at Hearts, their players betrayed a truth at Tannadice last night that should have cost them all three points.

This was a team not only unrecognisable in personnel, but in spirit and overall performance, from that which had been evident in the preceding week.

Having gone behind to Grant Brebner's first-half goal, they were extremely fortunate to take a point with Paul Hartley's penalty kick after Alan Archibald was judged to have fouled Steven Pressley.

The late ordering-off of United's Barry Robson - for a lunging challenge on Pressley - and Hearts' Julien Brellier, for an altercation with Derek McInnes, was almost an appropriately untidy ending to what had been largely a messy game.

The pre-match buzz over events at Tynecastle was certainly more vibrant than most of what occurred on the field of play. In the Hearts players, a certain disruption of their focus might have been understandable, but those who represented United seemed for long periods to be equally distracted.

To a reporter watching the Tannadice side for the first time since Craig Brewster became manager, however, it was immediately noticeable that each had an awareness of his designated area of patrol and they would desert it under pain of death. This regimentation contrasted with what appeared to be a more improvisational approach from Hearts, although the comparative looseness of the Tynecastle side may have been explained by a certain unfamiliarity. Among the six changes in the team that beat Aberdeen in the Tennent's Scottish Cup on Saturday, the Slovakian right-back, Martin Petras, and the Czech midfielder, Ludek Straceny, made their debuts. There was also the returns of left-back Takis Fyssas and midfielder Rudi Skacel after they missed the 3-0 victory over the Dons through illness.

Christophe Berra was restored to central defence which left Pressley without his usual partners, Robbie Neilson and Andy Webster - both on the bench - and the probing David Fernandez had caused one or two alarms before the goal from Brebner that gave the home side the lead.

Had Gordon Strachan been present, he may have been tempted to rescind the decision to send Charlie Mulgrew to Tannadice on loan until the end of the season. The big left-back had already done an impressive piece of work on the left - a quick jink and a wickedly-delivered cross - before repeating the trick to set up Brebner.

Mulgrew once again made tracks towards the dead-ball line on the left and his whipped cross took out Craig Gordon, allowing for Hibs midfielder Brebner to bore, almost in a crouch, between two defenders and head the ball over the line from about three yards' range.

In truth, neither side had been overly-impressive throughout a largely uninspired first half, but, in the circumstances, Hearts would be the more disappointing. Despite attempts to try to play a controlled, skilful game from middle to front, there was nothing incisive about their ball work in either area, reducing authentic scoring chances to virtually nothing.

Their most promising move had come from Fyssas, who supplied Hartley with a through pass on the left side of the penalty area.

The midfielder gathered the ball and turned smartly on to his right foot, but the shot was deflected for a corner kick by the alert David McCracken.

It may have been frustration at losing Mulgrew at the goal which led to the lunge on Robson from Petras which brought the full-back a caution, but there was no excuse for referee Dougie McDonald's refusal to book Fyssas, and on two occasions.

The Greek could easily have been sent off for cumulative punishments when he perpetrated a late and very dangerous tackle on Brebner - this before the United goal - and, later, when he climbed all over Collin Samuel at the half-way line, preventing the United striker from breaking quite unchallenged into the deserted Hearts half of the field.

As Petras became increasingly unreliable on what proved to be a wretched first appearance, the substantial Hearts support - around 3,000 travelled - began the chant of "There's only one Robbie Neilson."

The deposed full-back's summons from the bench within a few minutes, however, would have less to do with complying with the fans' wishes than it would the potentially devastating error he made just a minute before.

It was from a corner kick by Robson that Petras completely lost Samuel at the far post and it was only the United's poor attempt at converting the opportunity - slicing the ball high - that saved him from embarrassment.

In an attempt to effect a reversal of fortunes, Graham Rix - at least, we think it was Rix - decided also to remove the largely ineffective Michal Pospisil and replace him with Deividas Cesnauskis. This seemed rather puzzling, as the Lithuanian is not a recognised striker or particularly prolific scorer.

Indeed, it was United who continued to look the more dangerous, particularly when the excellent Fernandez went to work irritating any Hearts defender in his vicinity. There were also the set pieces from Robson, another of his inswinging corners narrowly missing its intended target, the flying McCracken, who required only a touch to divert the ball over the line. Another Lithuanian, Saulius Mikoliunas, replaced the other debutant, Straceny, for the last 15 minutes, at a time, in fact, when Hearts had begun to impose themselves more noticeably on the match that at any point before.

But it was a night on which the visitors very rarely came close to the formidable form that had seen them overrun Edinburgh rivals Hibernian in the derby and Aberdeen in the cup in the course of the previous week.

Taken from the Scotsman