Dundee United 1 - 1 Hearts

ROB ROBERTSON at Tannadice February 08 2006

Scorers: Dundee Utd – Brebner (35); Hearts – Hartley (83pen)

Hearts' championship challenge was kept intact last night after a late Paul Hartley penalty earned them a point in a controversial match.

It was an ill-tempered affair, with Barry Robson and Julian Breillier sent off late on.

The bad tackles started flying in following the incident which led to the Hearts penalty. Alan Archibald was judged to have taken down Hearts' captain, Steven Pressley, off the ball in the box. The United players accused Pressley of diving and Brebner was booked for his protests.

Minutes after Hartley scored, Robson went through Pressley with a high tackle and left referee Dougie McDonald no alternative but to send him off. In the melee that followed Brellier was given his marching orders for pushing David McCracken.

It was a sorry finale to a sorry game. Football was in short supply and there were more mistimed tackles than quality passes.

Things could have been a lot worse for Hearts who played with no cohesion. That was not surprising, considering the Tynecastle outfit had made six changes, some on the say-so of club owner Vladimir Romanov.

His intervention had not made last night's fixture easy for Graham Rix, the head coach, or the Hearts players.

They created little of note in front of goal and will be thankful they managed to come away with a point from the game.

United played the most fluid football but lacked the cutting edge. The Tynecastle club's best player was Christophe Berra, drafted into the side in place of experienced Scottish internationalist Andy Webster. The youngster filled the role well.

It says a lot for the Tynecastle players that they showed such fighting spirit to earn a point in a game which seemed lost. Much of that can be put down to the perseverance in midfield of Hartley, who was an inspiration in the middle of the park.

Just what Romanov would make of the team he helped pick remains to be seen.

The two Hearts debutants, Ludek Straceny and Martin Petras, put in creditable performances but realistically the Tynecastle outfit were always going to struggle to gel.

To make six changes in a team which has won his last two games in style was sheer folly and would have been made against the wishes of Rix.

To sign 11 players during the transfer window may have been a show of commitment by Romanov but it will be impossible to keep them all happy.

From a Dundee United point of view Craig Brewster will be concerned that his side failed to create more chances. Colin Samuel and David Fernández they had the players to get in behind the Hearts' defence but they were given no ammunition from the United midfield.

Their goal came in 34 minutes when full-back Charlie Mulgrew crossed and Grant Brebner bundled in a back-post header.

Such was the paucity of chances for either side it was always going to be a piece of luck or controversial refereeing decision which would change the game. As it turned out Dougie McDonald controversially judged that Archibald had fouled Pressley off the ball resulting in the successfully converted Hartley penalty.

The draw was a huge result for Hearts as a defeat would have stumped up the pressure on the club and meddling in its affairs by Romanov. Today will decide whether Rix remains in charge at Tynecastle and the club cannot rely on the gut and determination of their players alone to keep bringing them results. They need to know who is in charge and until that happens you can expect such disjointed performances from them in the near future.

Dundee Utd (4-4-2) Stillie; Duff, McCracken, Archibald, Mulgrew; Kerr, McInnes, Brebner, Robson; Fernández, Samuel (Miller 90). Subs: Samson, Kenneth, Robertson, Gardiner, Abbot, Goodwillie. Sent Off Robson 86

Booked Kerr, Duff, Samuel, Brebner.

Hearts (4-4-2) Gordon; Petras (Neilson 57), Pressley, Berra, Fyssas; Hartley, Brellier, Skacel, Elliot; Pospisil (Cesnauskis 65), Straceny (Mikoliunas 75). Subs: Banks, Webster, Wallace, Aguiar Sent Off Brellier 86 Booked Skacel, Petras, Pospisil

Referee D McDonald

Scorers: Dundee Utd – Brebner (35); Hearts – Hartley (83pen)

Taken from the Herald