Latapy has last word as chaos reigns at Hearts

Falkirk 1 Latapy (84)

Hearts 1 Velicka (65)

VLADIMIR Romanov keeps his own tally of what should be the "real" points total in the SPL once supposedly dodgy refereeing decisions are taken into account. For Hearts supporters, however, the calculation must be how many points their team would have garnered had it been selected on merit rather than caprice.

Few fair-minded spectators could deny that Falkirk merited a point from this match, but it was a contest which faded into near-insignificance for the visiting side after another day of bizarre happenings off the field. News that Eduard Malofeev - sent to the stands late on for manhandling the fourth official - is about to be replaced as acting head coach by Eugenijus Riabovas might have seemed enough to digest for one day, but then came news of who was in the team and why. The side chosen to start the game for Hearts would have looked more at place in a reserve fixture. Steven Pressley was omitted altogether, and, with no-one at the club being willing to offer an explanation, it remained to be seen how responsibility for that should be divided between player and club.

Paul Hartley and Robbie Neilson were dropped to the bench - the former presumably because he had joined Pressley in criticising the Romanov regime, Neilson no doubt because he looks like the Scotland centre-back. Such an explanation may seem flippant or facetious, but it is surely no more so than whatever the real reasons are behind the Hearts selection. Certainly, Marius Zaliukas and Nerijus Barasa have done nothing in recent matches to justify their places in last night's starting line-up, while the Greek defender Christos Karipidis has not been given the chance to do so, having been left out of the squad for most of the past couple of months.

Edgaras Jankauskas, who had hoped to be ready for this match after injury, was not even fit enough for a place on the bench, so Jamie Mole joined the in-form Andrius Velicka up front. However unfamiliar the Hearts team might have been to one another, they began brightly, and had the better of the opening five minutes. The first chance came their way towards the end of that period when a free-kick into the box by Bruno Aguiar was headed towards goal by Andrius Velicka. Jeroen Lambers was well positioned, however, and got a hand to the ball to send it over the bar.

Velicka did well midway through the half to get his head to a low cross by Mikoliunas. Unfortunately for the striker, Lambers was again there to save, and this time Velicka took a knock to the head from the boot of Thomas Scobbie into the bargain. The striker was able to resume after having his head bandaged. Christophe Berra was the next Hearts player to have a chance of opening the scoring, but he mistimed his run to meet an Aguiar cross and could only make harmless contact with his chest rather than getting his head to it. That was the visiting side's last meaningful attempt on goal before the break, and Falkirk came more into the game in the run-up to half-time.

Steven Thomson was the first home player to have an attempt on goal, but his bobbling shot, while awkward, was still comfortably dealt with by Craig Gordon. The Scotland No1 coped even more safely with the next effort from Falkirk, although this time he should at the very least have been forced into a dramatic save. Alan Gow made the scoring opportunity with an impressive run down the left, and his cross was perfectly placed for Anthony Stokes to meet it level with the far post on the edge of the six-yard box. The on-loan striker did indeed meet it with his head, but he failed to get the correct direction on it, and Gordon did not need to move to make the save.

Gow then decided to take matters into his own hands after creating space for himself through the middle. His shot from 25 yards beat Gordon, but went too high. Having become the dominant force in the match after playing second fiddle at first, Falkirk resumed where they had left off once play got under way again.

Six minutes into the second period Russell Latapy did well to get a free-kick through the Hearts wall, but Gordon had again positioned himself astutely and was able to block the shot.

A match which had begun tepidly was beginning to simmer as both teams realised a single goal might be enough to seal the points, and, just after Scobbie became the first name in the referee's book for a foul on Barasa, Velicka broke the deadlock. Picking up a pass in the inside-left channel, the striker ambled on, apparently waiting for support in the box. As the attention of the Falkirk defence drifted towards the arriving Mole, Velicka curled in a low, weak shot from 25 yards out which somehow beat Lambers at his near post. Falkirk hardly deserved to be behind, and would not have been but for a momentary lapse of concentration from their goalkeeper.

Mole might have made his defence's job a little easier if he had made it 2-0 after making space for himself in the box, but Lambers got down well to block. It was a critical moment in the game, for with five minutes left Falkirk grabbed the equaliser their play deserved. Moments before that goal, Hearts had Gordon to thank when the keeper prevented a Latapy drive from hitting the back of the net.

On the 85-minute mark, though, the international could do nothing to stop the same player's delightfully placed shot from a Gow pass. Some aspect of the goal provoked an angry reaction from Malofeev, who was sent to the stand for his pains. Approaching time added on, a snap shot from Karipidis could have snatched the points for Hearts, but it went a yard or so wide. Any blame heaped on the Greek was soon lifted, however, when in stoppage time he put in a vital block on Gow to prevent a late winner.

Taken from the Scotsman