Inverness 0 Hearts 0: Hearts suffer storm warning

A draw may not be a decisive result, but there are times when it can feel as deflating as a defeat. With Rangers closing the gap on second-placed Hearts to six points, and heading to Tynecastle on Sunday, Graham Rix’s side are now glancing over their shoulders nervously. There was a disquiet to their performance here, as though the players’ minds were scrambled by the conditions. The first kick-out by Mark Brown, the Inverness keeper, failed to cross the halfway line and the gale seldom let up.

“Barcelona wouldn’t have been able to play football out there,” said Rix. The ball was bouncing up over your head and swirling all over the place.”

The wind was a devious presence and the game began in a flurry of anxiety. An aimless through ball induced Craig Gordon, the Hearts goalkeeper, to dash outside the box to scramble a clearance from Craig Dargo’s feet. The ball spun to Graham Bayne who missed a volley with a wild slash of his right foot, then Russell Duncan attempted to chip it into the empty net, only for the wind to hold the ball up and allow Gordon to scurry back and pull it down to safety.

Inverness seemed just as unsettled initially as the visitors and when Paul Hartley curled a corner in from the right, Takis Fyssas was left unmarked at the back post and his header was stubbornly blocked by Brown.

Hearts were without four key players, missing Steven Pressley, Rudi Skacel and Edgarus Jankauskas through injury and the suspended Julien Brellier. Few would pause to consider their plight with sympathy. They signed 11 players during the January transfer window and two of them played yesterday, Bruno Aguiar and Chris Hackett, a wide midfielder who spent most of the game threatening to live up to his surname.

Hearts seemed like a team whose purpose had been displaced and it was Inverness who began to come to terms with the contours of the game. They were aided by the uncertainty lurking within the visitor’s line-up. Visiting defender Christophe Berra was slow and indecisive as he challenged Alan Morgan on the halfway line, allowing the Inverness midfielder to deliver a through ball to Hart. Perhaps the run on goal provided too much time for him to consider his options because he chose the wrong one, shooting low at Gordon when a chip might have brought a more favourable outcome. “I could spend all night saying I should have done this, I should have done that, but obviously you’re looking to score from there,” he sighed.

The visitors emerged early from the dressing room at half-time to be taken through a warm-up session by Tom Ritchie, the fitness coach. Yet instead of performing with a new-found urgency in the second half, Hearts were beset by a disabling fatigue. They failed to muster one shot on target while Inverness, playing with the wind, presented the most compelling threat.

The game became a private tussle between Hart and Gordon, beginning with a firmly struck free-kick from 40 yards out that bounced tantalisingly in front of the goalkeeper before he clutched it to his chest. There was a similar execution and outcome when Inverness were awarded another free-kick, 25 yards out. That it wasn’t to quite be Hart’s day was proved when he dropped the bottle of champagne presented to him afterwards for being man of the match.

Hearts brought on Jamie McAllister for Hackett, but the substitute lasted only 18 minutes before being stretchered off with a knee injury. He will miss Wednesday’s Future international against Turkey at this ground and will also be a doubt for the meeting with Rangers, a match now of even greater significance. “I’d rather be six points ahead than six points behind and chasing them,” added Rix. “I just hope there’s no wind at Tynecastle and we can play some football.”

Perhaps, but Inverness managed to play enough against them yesterday.

STAR MAN: Richie Hart (Inverness CT)
Player ratings. Inverness: Brown 7, Tokely 6, Dods 6, Munro 6, Hastings 6, Hart 7, Duncan 7, Black 7, Morgan 7, Bayne 5, Dargo 6

Hearts: Gordon 7, Neilson 7, Webster 7, Berra 5, Fyssas 6, Hackett 5 (McAllister 67min 6, Goncalves 85min 6), Aguiar 6, Hartley 6, Cesnauskis 5, Bednar 5, Elliot 5
Booked: Hart 20, Aguiar 75, Fyssas 80
Referee: K Toner
Attendance: 5,027

Taken from timesonline.co.uk