Pressley drama takes centre stage

By Ewing Grahame

Falkirk (0) 1 Heart of Midlothian (0) 1

On a night when Hearts limped into third place, behind next Sunday's opponents Rangers, the main talking point was that Steven Pressley did not strip for action. The suggestion was that the Scotland defender has instead been stripped of the captaincy by the Edinburgh club's owner, Vladimir Romanov.

Their interim manager, Eduard Malofeev, was ordered to the stand for manhandling the fourth official in the aftermath of Russell Latapy's 84th-minute equaliser, a crisp right-foot shot from Alan Gow's pass.

Whether Pressley refused to play or whether he had been dropped as a punishment by the increasingly ludicrous Romanov remains a matter for debate. Since the popular club captain made his disappointment with the current regime clear at a press conference 17 days ago retribution was always likely and may have been precipitated by the fact he has written the foreword to a new book critical of the Romanov revolution.

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The Scotland midfielder, Paul Hartley, Hearts' most influential attacking player, sat shoulder to shoulder with Pressley last month and he found himself relegated to the bench alongside his international team-mate, the full-back, Robbie Neilson.

Irrespective of the result, Hearts are not just declining but decaying. A year ago owner Vladimir Romanov was promising Champions League success with a prestigious head coach and World Cup players in the side. Since dismissing George Burley, however, Hearts have been ill-served by Graham Rix, Valdas Ivanauskas and Eduard Malofeev, with Eugenijus Riabovas set to become the third former FBK Kaunas manager to take the helm at Tynecastle in the last month. Hearts' supporters chanted the names of Pressley and Hartley during a first half which stubbornly refused to ignite. In fairness, the torrential rain and greasy surface was not conducive to flowing football.

Andrius Velicka twice forced fine reactions saves from Jerome Lambers with powerful headers but the longer the half wore on the more the home side came into contention and Steven Thomson and Anthony Stokes were both denied by Craig Gordon, the one dissident yet to be despatched to the gulag by Romanov.

Gordon was called into action again in the 51st minute, diving to his right to beat away a swerving free-kick from Russell Latapy.

Hearts were pedestrian in the middle of the park but Bruno Aguiar, their best performer, finally carved out an opening 14 minutes later.

His cross-field pass picked out Velicka, who cut inside to deliver a shot from 20 yards which Lambers allowed to beat him at his near post.

Jamie Mole should have sealed the outcome following an error by Marc Twaddle but, like Romanov, he failed to take advantage of a glorious opportunity.

Match details

Falkirk (4-3-1-2): Lambers; Ross (Dodd 16), Barr, Milne, Scobbie (Twaddle 63); Thomson, Cregg, O'Donnell (Craig 63); Latapy; Stokes, Gow.

Subs: Higgins (g), Stewart, Lima, McManus.

Booked: Twaddle, Cregg.

Hearts (4-4-2): Gordon; Karipidis, Zaliukas, Berra, Wallace; Barasa, Aguiar, Brellier (Hartley 90+2), Mikoliunas; Velicka, Mole (Makela 75).

Subs: MacDonald (g), Neilson, Pospisil, Ivaskevicius, Jonsson.

Booked: Barasa.

Referee: Mike McCurry.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk