WHAT DID THE ROMANOV EVER DO FOR US?

HEARTS 1 ABERDEEN 2

HEARTS' championship hopes aren't dead and buried but they have been moved into intensive care.

And it was Aberdeen who put their aspirations into the high-dependency category, not internal strife at Tynecastle.

Graham Rix's players can't be allowed to hide behind a variety of excuses, such as concern over who picks the team and the nationalistic division which suddenly appeared in the dressing room when the Lithuanian players balked at the idea of a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Romanov on Saturday night.

And Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood insisted he would be annoyed if his side's efforts in relieving Rangers and Hearts of six points in a four-day spell were down to his players being put in the fortunate position where they were able to take advantage of the temporarily disturbed.

Just as it wasn't his fault Rangers missed a succession of chances to score at Pittodrie, it had nothing to do with the manager that Hearts failed to have another shot at goal after taking the lead as early as the ninth minute through Calum Elliot.

Players are supposed to be unnerved by conflict behind the scenes but is it really to be put forward as an explanation for the kind of paralysis that afflicted Hearts' spirit?

If that's the case then the Tynecastle challenge for the title really is in terminal decline, because where there's a Romanov there is a rumble in the distance.

The owner's not going away, so the players will have to decide if they can summon up the psychological strength to go on or give in to emotional distress.

Calderwood rightly concentrated on getting full credit for his team and the way they rewrote history. Sort of. Aberdeen hadn't scored a goal at Tynecastle in any competition for 11 hours and 15 minutes before Saturday's match. It could be argued they haven't managed to do so, because Steven Pressley deflected Scott Severin's cross into the net to equalise Hearts' opener and Chris Clark's winner hit off Andy Webster.

But Calderwood knew his team had played for their luck and deservedly won a league meeting at Tynecastle for the first time since 1999.

He said: "I'd be annoyed if the emphasis was put on Hearts' troubles. We played really well and rounded off a great week with our comeback.

"That's the first game I've ever won at Tynecastle as a manager and we would have scored even more goals if it hadn't been for a fantastic keeper."

Craig Gordon had a catalogue of saves that prevented the kind of ridiculous scoreline which might have prompted Romanov to banish several of his players to the game's equivalent of the Russian front.

The statistics provoked the question of why Aberdeen can collect maximum points from Rangers and Hearts in quick succession and still be outside the SPL's top six.

Calderwood said: "That's a question Jimmy Nicholl and myself ask ourselves on a regular basis.

"We've had a poor season so far by our own standards and we're not hiding from that fact.

"But we've got so much quality in the squad that we can climb higher, or else we feel real disappointment. We've only lost seven matches this season, which is better than, or equal with, teams above us such as Kilmarnock and Hibs. It's the number of draws that has killed us.

"But we've lifted our form since the New Year and we did more to win the game than Hearts, because our keeper, Jamie Langfield, hasn't had a save to make after losing the opening goal. There was only one team in the match after that." Calderwood's assessment is as undeniable as the fact that Hearts have crumbled since 2006 began with a home defeat from Celtic.

Kilmarnock and now Aberdeen have beaten them and the draw with Dundee United last Tuesday was another destructive element in a crumbling challenge for the title.

Hearts full-back Takis Fyssas was left to explain his team's shortcomings and the extent to which the row over who picks the side had affected performances, without making it sound as if it was all Greek to him.

He said: "It's not up to me to speak about these matters. That is up to the coach, Graham Rix. I'm a player and I do my best for the team. It's not for me to say who should play.

"I go to training. I give my all in games and then I go back home to see my newly-born daughter."

Fyssas was one of two players allegedly told to go home the week before and say they had flu if anyone asked about their non-appearance against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup tie that Hearts won.

His version of events summed up the current state of confusion at the club.

Fyssas said: "No comment." This is an admission and a reluctance to own up in the same sentence.

Fyssas was clearer on the subject of where Hearts had lost the match.

He said: "We thought it would be like the weekend before - easy.

"But Aberdeen were better than us and we should have scored more goals in the first half. We didn't start well after the break and now we can only hope things will get better by each player helping the other."

Rix was less diplomatic in his summing up of a result that undermined the position of a man on a short-term contract drawn up by a man with an even shorter fuse.

He said: "We had as many as seven players who were off the pace. We didn't win any second balls or any knockdowns. I had written the word 'discipline' on a board when I was having my pre-match talk with the players. Discipline is what brings you success because it means you're doing the things you're best at on a consistent basis.

"What I got was a performance of the kind I'd never seen at this club since taking charge. It's been a shocker of a week but what's gone has gone and we have to focus on Motherwell at Tynecastle next Saturday.

"The loss of five points in our last two matches has done us no favours. We have to react positively. I'll fight on because I'm a Yorkshireman and I have a strip of steel inside of me."

It goes without saying that the manager, or whichever word best sums up Rix's job description, will need that inner hardness to withstand the weeks ahead.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Chris Clark (Aberdeen)

MATCH STATS

POSSESSION

51% 49%

SHOTS ON TARGET

2 6

SHOTS OFF TARGET

5 3

CORNERS

1 4

FOULS CONCEDED

16 19

OFFSIDES

2 1

HEARTS

MAN BY MAN

Craig Gordon: The best keeper in the country saved Hearts from a hiding. 8

Robbie Neilson: Troubled Aberdeen to begin with, then fell away. 5

Steven Pressley: Usual determined performance was ruined by a costly own goal. 6

Andy Webster: Niggly display and found Aberdeen a handful after the interval. 5

Takis Fyssas: Could do with concentrating on the game instead of getting involved in trouble. Booked. 5

Martin Petras: Being subbed at half-time tells its own story. 5

Mirsad Beslija: Taking his time to adjust to the Scottish game. 5

Paul Hartley: Started well, then disappeared with the rest of his team. 6

Bruno Aguiar: Was subbed at half-time after an ineffective display. 5

Rudi Skacel: Made Hearts' goal, then lost his way in the game. 5

Calum Elliot: Opportunist goal and boundless energy. No blame attached. 6

Subs: Lee Wallace - replaced Petras at half-time and did well, 6. Ludek Straceny - on for Aguiar at half-time and replaced by Pospisil with eight minutes remaining.

Booked, 4.

ABERDEEN

MAN BY MAN

Jamie Langfield: Hardly overworked but looked under control. 6

Chris Clark: Persevered after a torrid opening and triumphed in the end. 8

Zander Diamond: Resolute defender who got over a shaky start. 7

Russell Anderson: Fought his corner all the way to a booking. 6

Kevin McNaughton: Defender with a willingness to work the whole flank. 6

Scott Severin: Set up his team's equaliser and tormented his old club. 6

Danny Griffin: Unlucky not to score in the first half and worked hard. 6

Kyle McAuley: Made way for Snoyl after a lacklustre first half. 5

Barry Nicholson: Beavered away in the middle of the park as always. 6

Jamie Smith: Clever forward play and booked for a challenge on Webster. 6

Steve Lovell: Did a lot of unselfish work up front to annoy Hearts' defence. 6

Subs: Ferne Snoyl - awkward player who replaced McAulay at half-time and ran riot, 7. Neil MacFarlane - on for Smith in time to take a bow, 2. Darren Mackie - replaced Lovell as Aberdeen took control of the game, 6.

MOMENT THAT CHANGED THE GAME:

When Steven Pressley scored an own goal it was the beginning of the end for Hearts.

Taken from the Daily Record