Hearts in limbo after Pars draw

Hearts 1
Dunfermline 1

YOU could almost forgive the Hearts players had they deliberately set out to call Vladimir Romanov's bluff. Failure to beat Dunfermline would see them sold off, they were told. All aboard the bus to Kilmarnock, then.

A mass cull at Tynecastle this week is, of course, unlikely despite the verbal bluster from the majority shareholder. Saturday did not produce the foregone conclusion Romanov expected, which might have been the consequence of a certain public rebellion that took place against the Russian's leadership last week.

Whilst the team selection pacified both players and supporters, with the three mutineers Steven Pressley, Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley all on from the start, a home performance littered with high balls from back to front brought a less than satisfactory result which also tests the authenticity of Romanov's threat.

Selling the entire squad is clearly not an option. Romanov departed the directors' box at full-time on Saturday with a faint shake of the head after witnessing another two home points dropped. He will also be aware that the upshot of this result is the ball being once again returned to his court by the Hearts players, however unintentionally.

The Russian banker is not someone who can easily be second-guessed, so attempting to predict his next act would be pointless. For the Hearts squad, this battle of wills with their paymaster is quickly evolving like a game of chess. Romanov is not quite in check-mate as yet, but it is most definitely his move.

"I'm not sure what will happen now as regards whether the team will stay together," conceded Hartley. "I hope it does but at the end of the day it'll not be our decision. I don't know if it will do any good but we have put our points across with Friday's statement. There is no meeting planned and I don't know if Mr Romanov wants to speak with us.

"We came up a bit short [against Dunfermline] but you are going to get games like that in a season. If he feels that wasn't good enough, then that's fair enough."

After giving an official confirmation of Romanov's demoralising threat to the squad, Hartley managed to joke about a hypothetical transfer from Tynecastle. "Kilmarnock is closer for me than Dunfermline," said the Lanarkshire-based midfielder. "Mr Romanov made his points and it's up to him how he feels. We are under pressure to win games week in, week out anyway.

"I think it raised a few eyebrows but he has a right to say certain things. That was his point of view and obviously certain players aren't happy with it. There's not a lot we can do about it. I would like to stay here but at the end of the day it might not be up to me. I think it's very serious if he's making these statements. We didn't know Mr Romanov was coming in to have a meeting with the players on Friday but our statement was going out in any case.

"There has been a certain frustration for myself for a long time. I don't know how the rest of the lads feel. We felt what we said needed said and we've done that. Hopefully that will be the end of it now and we can get back to winning football matches. We just want stability at the club because changing managers all the time is no good."

Hartley entered Tynecastle on Saturday afternoon in a state of uncertainty. He had accepted the possibility that he might be banished to the stand for standing shoulder to shoulder with his colleagues the previous day. Presumably Pressley and Gordon were nursing the same fears. "After myself, Steven and Craig came out in public it's always in the back of your mind that you might not play," said the 29-year-old.

"Thankfully I was picked, and when selected I will always give 100 per cent. If you don't play then there isn't a lot you can do. We felt so strongly that if we didn't play it wasn't up to us. We stick by our point of view."

The widespread supporters' backlash that would have been triggered by the exclusion of Hartley, Pressley or Gordon from the side ensured it was absolutely essential for acting head coach Eduard Malofeev, pictured right, to name all three in his starting line-up. Notably, there were just two changes from the team which lost to Kilmarnock, rather than the standard five or six. The injured Mirsad Beslija was absent whilst Edgaras Jankauskas found himself relegated to the substitutes' bench. This was evidently Romanov stepping back from the hands-on team-selection process, but for how long?

The majority shareholder surveyed the scene in the build-up to kick-off, displaying a jocular demeanour by insolently waving to photographers as he watched the players being put through their paces by fitness coach Tom Ritchie.

Dunfermline fronted up with an attack comprising former Tynecastle employees Mark Burchill and Jim Hamilton. Behind them were another two old boys in midfielder Stephen Simmons and goalkeeper Roddy McKenzie, and two minutes in Simmons was stinging the palms of Gordon with a vicious shot.

It became instantly clear that Hearts were playing at a higher tempo than could be said of most of their games this season. Malofeev was seen bawling the odd instruction from the edge of the technical area, but each time had to retreat towards the dugout to allow his utterances to be translated by Alex Koslovski for the benefit of John McGlynn. This complicated process was completed when the assistant coach relayed Malofeev's words in English to the non-Russian speakers on the field, which was everyone bar Deividas Cesnauskis. On 12 minutes, the supposedly nerve-settling opening goal arrived. A long ball out of defence by Pressley bounced in front of McKenzie, who had rendered himself culpable by advancing too far from his line. The ball bounced over his head but the retreating goalkeeper succeeded in palming it away from goal. However, a majestically-instinctive back heel from Hartley returned it to the six-yard box where Andrius Velicka was waiting to convert.

He may not be the best forward at the club, as Romanov had claimed in front of supporters at last Thursday's G10 meeting, but the Lithuanian has a presence, a work-rate and an eye for goal. Such commodities are always likely to be useful in the SPL and Velicka now has four goals to his credit this season, highlighting the astuteness of Malofeev in recommending him to Hearts in the first place.

The home side were a little over-reliant on Velicka's aerial attributes throughout the afternoon, although there was an engrossing charge out of defence by Pressley after 23 minutes. The captain took a pass from Robbie Neilson and made for what was an unconvincing Dunfermline back line. A tidy one-two with Velicka on the edge of the penalty area and Pressley found himself eyeballing McKenzie, however he could only slide the ball wide of the goalkeeper's right post. Dunfermline's quick and often high balls from middle to front were also causing occasional consternation amongst the three-man Hearts defence, but the hosts prevailed until the interval. Merely minutes into the second period, Hamilton scrambled his equaliser from another aerial assault on Gordon's penalty box. Owen Morrison's corner was nodded downwards by Simmons and bundled into the net by Hamilton on the goal line. The goal prompted a furiously animated protest from Gordon, who raced from his goal to scream at referee Brian Winter and his standside assistant George Drummond. His argument was that Hamilton had used an arm to ensure that the ball crossed the line. Hamilton converted again for Dunfermline soon after from Greg Ross' low cross but the striker was adjudged to have been offside. Relief was detectable all round the stadium as Mr Drummond raised his flag.

Hearts had lost momentum and Malofeev was becoming frustrated on the touchline.

Substitute Edgaras Jankauskas was berated for his lack of movement and the need for variation in Hearts' play was obvious: The high balls weren't penetrating Dunfermline.

Introducing Bruno Aguiar and Julien Brellier - the latter to deafening applause - helped Malofeev's side to gain more of a foothold in midfield and establish a passing rhythm for the closing stages. Burchill wasted a fine opportunity to secure Dunfermline three points when he screwed his effort wide after an industrious run on the break by the impressive Owen Morrison.

Hartley shot wide from a late chance after a long-range attempt by Jose Goncalves ricocheted off a defender, and Neilson struck what looked like the winner until Andy Tod intervened on the goal line to flick the ball over the crossbar. It finished as one of those afternoons, as Hartley alluded.

Dunfermline had played impressively on the break at times but were also content with being stuffy and stifling their opponents. Malofeev, throughout his coaching career, has constructed a reputation for fielding teams that adopt an open, attacking brand of football. Such an attitude may take slightly longer to bed itself in at Tynecastle, but Romanov doesn't do honeymoon periods with coaches. Only swift divorces.

The majority shareholder will not, despite his dressing-room address to the squad on Friday, bundle an entire team off down to Ayrshire because of one draw with Dunfermline. One or two players must be worth retaining at least, for there is a rather critical top-of-the-table assignment to be undertaken at Celtic Park this weekend.

Taken from the Scotsman