Romanov meeting yields a 'result'

A STATEMENT from Hearts on Saturday night hailed the "positive result" which arose from the meeting of senior players with the club's owner, Vladimir Romanov. The result from the match itself, however, was anything but positive, and ensured that, no matter if the debate over team selection dies down, other issues will not go away.

"We had a meeting and have found a solution to the issues raised this week," the statement read. "We feel the result will be positive for the club. All other matters will be kept within the club."

The meeting was held at the request of the players after they had been told that Romanov had influenced the selection of the team for the match against Dundee United. Graham Rix, the first-team coach, claimed total responsibility before the match for picking the team against Aberdeen, and said after it that he had also made the substitutions of his own volition.

In that respect at least, then, Romanov cannot be blamed for a Hearts performance that began promisingly before petering out. The double substitution at half-time did nothing to bolster the side, with one of the changes, Lee Wallace, only coming on to a game after he had been moved from central to left midfield. More embarrassingly, one of the half-time replacements, Ludek Straceny, did not even make it to the end of the match, being replaced himself by Michal Pospisil.

Bruno Aguiar, the debutant replaced by Straceny, had done well in his role as support for Paul Hartley, though not as well as Lee Johnson had done before him. Johnson was on the bench and would surely have coped adequately, whereas Straceny looked off the pace.

More than individual selections, however, the worrying thing for Rix was the lack of enthusiasm displayed by most of the side. A bigger squad is supposed to engender keener competition, but after Aberdeen had equalised the only outfield player in maroon who showed any serious desire to get back on level terms was the one most sure of his place in the team, Steven Pressley.

The fact that he had scored the equaliser by turning a cross from Scott Severin into his own net no doubt played a part in the home captain's actions. More generally, though, Pressley showed yet again the strength of character which far more of his team-mates will need if they are to come out of this season with a tangible prize.

Inevitably, there will be a lot of speculation about how much the events of last week influenced the team, who dropped five points in the space of five days. There are two reasons, however, to believe they may not have made much of a difference.

First of all, Hearts began very brightly against Aberdeen, with Takis Fyssas and Rudi Skacel taking control of the left flank. The latter came close to scoring himself with a low drive after five minutes, then provided the scoring pass for Calum Elliot with a cutback from close to the goal-line. Had they still been fretting about off-field matters, they would surely have not played with such zest.

Secondly, Rix's side have turned in more than a few lacklustre displays since his arrival. Apart from a couple of entertaining victories over teams from the bottom six, they have in fact only played really well in the SPL once since he arrived - in the 4-1 win over Hibs last month. The team's frustrating inconsistency was all the more glaring on Saturday, as their stuttering form against Jimmy Calderwood's side came just a week after a convincing win over the same opposition in the Scottish Cup.

After that 3-0 loss, Aberdeen's Russell Anderson asserted they were still in the fight for a top-six place and had some "massive" games coming up. At the time he sounded like a man trying to console himself, but he has proven true to his word since, with a midweek victory over Rangers and this win against Hearts combining to put his team within a point of the upper half of the table.

Add to those two results the January victory at Easter Road and it becomes clear that Aberdeen are one of the form sides. They lack a cutting edge up front, but have a fighting spirit and a togetherness which helps them prevail over teams of supposedly greater ability.

That was what made the difference in the second half at Tynecastle. While Hearts hardly bothered Jamie Langfield, Aberdeen kept beavering away. Ferne Snoyl, proof that half-time substitutes can make a difference, kept stretching the home defence, and got the reward for his persistence three minutes from time by indirectly creating the winner for Chris Clark.

The Dutchman left three defenders trailing in his wake before his low cross broke to Clark. The latter's shot would have been covered by Gordon, but a deflection off Paul Hartley wrong-footed the goalkeeper and sent the ball into the bottom right corner of his net.

The winner may have been fortunate for Aberdeen, but the win itself was not. They had finished the first half the stronger side, testing Gordon five times late on, and had dominated the second half in its entirety.

Taken from the Scotsman