Celebrations at Tynecastle as Europe beckons

Hearts 2 - 0 Kilmarnock
Natasha Woods at Tynecastle

OFFICIALLY, this was the victory which secured a Uefa Cup spot for Hearts, but the celebrations which followed the final whistle at Tynecastle yesterday suggested a greater prize was within their grasp. The fact that the home fans chanted “Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Aberdeen” told you everything you needed to know about the significance of results in both Gorgie and Govan.

“I heard the fans singing Scott Severin’s name and I thought Aberdeen were winning,” admitted Christophe Berra, the 21-year-old defender whose first goal for his club secured victory and a five-point lead over Rangers in the battle for second place and a Champions League qualifying place.

Severin, a former Hearts player, had actually only equalised for Aberdeen at Ibrox, but it was still a result which strengthened Hearts’ position to an almost unassailable one with just four games and 12 points to play for.

So wild and ecstatic were Berra’s goal celebrations he almost ran out of breath. His header from close range doubled Hearts’ advantage with just four minutes to go after substitute Deividas Cesnauskis had caused panic in the Kilmarnock defence with a shot blasted across the area which ricocheted off Frazer Wright and into Berra’s path.

Jim Jefferies would venture to suggest it was not Berra’s most significant contribution in the game, but then the Kilmarnock manager was battling to keep his frustrations in check and avoid further trouble with the game’s authorities. Last Sunday against Celtic, Kilmarnock had a perfectly legitimate goal ruled out in the 43rd minute. Yesterday, at the same point in proceedings, Danny Invincibile was sent tumbling when Berra clipped his heels.

The Australian was just outside the box and destined to go in on goal. The player, his manager and the band of travelling supporters all believed Berra should have been dismissed as the last defender. But referee Eddie Smith did not penalise the Hearts man.

“I’m saying nothing or I will get myself in big trouble,” insisted Jefferies, before giving a clear indication of his view on the matter. “Danny is an honest lad and he said he got behind the defender and his heels were clipped. If the player had gone off who knows what would have happened.

“It was the same thing last week with Naismith’s goal. And the same time too. F****** 43 minutes again. I won’t be picking 43 in the Lottery,” observed the Kilmarnock manager industrially.

Berra, for his part, did not protest his innocent too vigorously. “He ran across me and it happened so quickly I didn’t know whether I touched him or not. But if I did clip him, it wasn’t deliberate,” said the Scotland Under-21 inter national, who found himself unexpectedly in a starting berth yesterday.

Steven Pressley and Andy Webster both occupied the front row of the directors’ box rather than the centre of defence, but while Pressley’s absence was explained away by a back problem, Valdas Ivanauskas offered a less than clear reason for Webster’s omission.

“Andy Webster was rested. Andy is a very experienced player, a player for the national team and we need Andy,” said the interim head coach. Needed, but not played. Very confusing. Still there was a return for Rudi Skacel, whose omission from the squad last weekend provoked a strop from the club’s leading scorer. It was back to business as usual yesterday; the home fans chanting the name of their Czech star amid an atmosphere which coursed with excitement and anticipation.

Yet it was the visitors who should have opened the scoring within 10 minutes when Allan Johnston showed a canny touch to lift the ball into the box after an initial free-kick from Garry Hay had cannoned back off the wall. Steven Naismith was the intended target and while the Hearts defenders appealed for offside, Scotland’s young player of the year didn’t appreciate the time he had, tamely heading the ball straight at Craig Gordon.

There was nothing tame about the response from Hearts, though, who swept up field, Bruno Aguiar cutting the ball back to Edgaras Jankauskas who drilled it goalwards only to see Alan Combe pull-off a wonderful one-handed save. The quality of the football only dipped when the ball rebounded to Roman Bednar, whose follow-up shot soared over the bar when any sort of accuracy would have brought profitable rewards.

Hearts built considerable momentum, with a swiftness of thought and movement that perplexed their opponents. Jankauskas, Bednar and Skacel all threatened Kilmarnock’s goal with long-range shots, but frustrations grew as Hearts could not capitalise on their superiority.

Midway through the half, Ivanauskas’ selection policy came under even closer scrutiny as Jose Goncalves limped off and Ibrahim Tall emerged from the dug-out to make his debut. The Senegalese player was the eighth signing of George Burley’s reign, although the manager had nothing to do with his arrival at Tynecastle.

Predominantly a right-back, Tall found himself paired with Berra at centre-half. It was a combination which played a big part in the game’s most controversial moment as it was Tall who was outjumped by Colin Nish as the play built up to Invincibile’s Berra-inspired tumble.

For all Kilmarnock’s frustrations, they were at least positively channelled after the break, as they were a far more productive outfit when it came to working possession in the second half, Naismith and Simon Ford coming closest to scoring as they battled to get to a bobbling ball which Craig Gordon eventually smothered.

It took until 70 minutes for Hearts to open their account, but it was worth the wait; stand-in captain Paul Hartley curling in a delightful free-kick after Gordon Greer had fouled Skacel as Hearts broke after a sustained period of Kilmarnock pressure.

It just wasn’t Kilmarnock’s day. But then neither was it Rangers’. And that left the Tynecastle fans in great voice.

Taken from the Sunday Herald