Hearts go from bad to worse

Burley had taken Hearts comfortably clear at the top of the SPL after winning his first eight games and drawing the other. Saturday’s desperately disappointing defeat in Edinburgh to a solid Kilmarnock team saw them slip eight points behind Celtic and only the most wildly optimistic Hearts fans believe that they deserve to be mentioned in terms of the title picture.

Hearts had already lost at their former fortress to St Mirren and drawn with Falkirk. Their European performances were, at best, desperately poor; at worst embarrassing.

Despite a whirlwind start on Saturday, as soon as Kilmarnock frustrated them, then hit them on the counter-attack, there was only going to be one winner. Danny Invincible’s goal may have been against the run of play after a super run by Steven Naismith, but after Gary Wales’s deflected effort had trundled into the net past Craig Gordon, Hearts lacked the guile and seemingly motivational abilities to turn the match around. In the end, the Ayrshire outfit ran out quite comfortable winners.

So irate was Valdas Ivanauskas, their under-pressure head coach, that he refused to speak to the media after the game. So were the Hearts fans, who spent a large chunk of the second half chanting the name of Julien Brellier.

The midfield player’s mysterious omission — he was not even on the bench — when he is clearly one of Hearts’ best players is one more puzzling aspect of Romanov’s regime. The owner would surely be better advised channelling his energies explaining the farcical state of his club to the fans rather than launching another off-the-wall rant against whatever is irritating him this week.

Gordon, the Scotland goalkeeper, must be counting down the hours to the January transfer window reopening and praying that a suitable admirer comes in for him.

Gordon is Hearts’ one true class act, enthusiastic to the end. But after the match on Saturday, it became clear that even his patience is beginning to wear thin with his team-mates. “We need everyone to be pulling in the same direction if we are to be successful,” he said. “We have some good characters in the dressing-room, but it seems to be them who have to come to the fore every time.

“We have to get that from everyone at the club. It should be an honour to pull on the Hearts jersey. We have some good players at the club, but it is up to the players ourselves to take on the responsibility. Last season our push for the title came because we got so many points here at Tynecastle and it hasn’t happened this season.”

Kilmarnock appear to be one of those underrated clubs so that when they beat a so-called “bigger” team, the focus shines on that club’s troubles rather than the Rugby Park side’s success. Jim Jefferies, the manager, has developed a group of hard-working players who are ever-willing to put in a shift for him and the cause.

David Fernandez, the striker who epitomised Kilmarnock’s hard-working approach, said that the club have lofty ambitions. “I don’t see why we can’t finish in third place,” the Spaniard said. “We can beat any team when we play well. Jim Jefferies and his assistant, Billy Brown, know what they are doing and we have good-quality players at the club.

“We switched early on from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and we all tackled well and made it tough for them. Once we scored, it must have difficult for them because the crowd were on their back.”

Jefferies must have relished his first victory at Tynecastle since leaving the Hearts manager’s role six years ago. It was also Kilmarnock’s first win at the ground in 12 attempts.

“Every single player of mine out there was magnificent,” he said. “After we scored twice before half-time, I expected Hearts to mount an onslaught, but it never came. In fact it was the total opposite. Tynecastle is a very hard place to come and win and I think you could sense the frustration in their crowd.”

You certainly could. Optimism at the start of a season that promised Champions League football, a title challenge and an influx of world-class players has turned to total frustration as the season crumbles apart. Next on the Hearts fans’ range of emotions is surely anger.

Kilmarnock (4-3-3): G Smith 7 — G Murray 7, F Wright 7, G Greer 7, G Hay 6 — D Invincible 8, A Johnston 7, J Fowler 6 — S Naismith 7, G Wales 6 (sub: P Leven, 59 5), D Fernandez 8 (sub: P Di Giacomo, 89). Substitutes not used: A Combe, R Dodds, S Murray, R O’Leary, J Adams. Booked: F Wright 20, G Greer 37, P Leven 84.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk