Pressley walks out in new Hearts turmoil

The equaliser was met with a remarkable reaction from Eduard Malofeev, the Hearts caretaker coach, who was sent off for bundling the fourth official, and the Russian will now be banned from the dugout for Sunday’s game with Rangers, who have now moved ahead of the Tynecastle side on goal difference.

Malofeev was angry that his team were down to ten men with Andrius Velicka — whose 65th minute goal had put Hearts ahead — seeking to come back onto the pitch after treatment.

However, it was the absence of Pressley that was more crucial. The Hearts captain has reportedly walked out after being banished from the side by Vladmir Romanov, the autocratic owner.

Six minutes from time, Latapy strolled through the space in the centre of the Hearts defence normally occupied by Pressley to meet Alan Gow’s measured pass and stroke a composed finish beyond Craig Gordon.

Hearts came to Falkirk Stadium seeking to regain second place and restore their equilibrium after the morale-damaging defeat by Hibernian in the CIS Insurance Cup last Wednesday.

However, before a ball was kicked, word leaked out of yet another self-inflicted wound in this turbulent club’s past 18 months.

Pressley was conspicuous by his absence. The captain never misses a game unless through suspension or illness. Flu kept him out of the defeat by Celtic nine days earlier but he returned for the derby disappointment. However, his failure to appear here had a far more sinister reason.

The grapevine — namely supporters’ websites — were already humming with news of Pressley’s walkout before BBC Radio broke the news to the large Hearts support travelling along the M9.

The man who lifted the Scottish Cup last May was jettisoned from the team, not even selected for the bench, in what seems to be a response for his act of rebellion three weeks ago when Pressley, Gordon and Paul Hartley hijacked a press-match press conference to reveal publically the “significant dressing room unrest” with the methods of Romanov.

Romanov’s brutal man management, which have led him to sack three managers in just 12 months as John Robertson, George Burley and Graham Rix were dispensed with, had prompted immense unease with Pressley. It was not just the fact that the captain had been forced to step in as caretaker manager on two of those occasions — along with John McGlynn, the coach — but the constant chopping and changing of those in charge (as well as the interference of Romanov in team selection) had forced Pressley finally to push loyalty to his employer aside.

Pressley was seen as a diplomatic force throughout all the furore, taking the heat off the club for its capricious treatment of managers. The recent decision of Valdas Ivanauskas, the head coach, to take sick leave to help him to recover from stress, was the moment that uncorked the player rebellion. Romanov appointed Malofeev, a veteran Russian coach, as caretaker but now apparently he is on his way.

Euijenius Riebovas, who coaches Romanov’s other club, FBK Kaunas, has spent the past five days days in Edinburgh and is expected to take over the caretaker role either before the match against Rangers or the next day.

The mood of the Hearts fans might have been lifted had Velicka scored an early goal but Jerome Lambers, the Falkirk goalkeeper, denied the striker’s eighth minute header when he touched the ball over the crossbar.

Pressley’s fellow rebel, Hartley, was also confined to the bench. When the Scotland midfield player came out for his warm-up in front of the visiting fans, he was given a standing ovation and his name chanted. Hartley responded with affection and the message to Romanov was clear.

The teenage Irishman, who had scored successive hat-tricks in his past two league games for Falkirk, found space at the back post to meet Alan Gow’s fine cross but headed straight at Gordon as Roy Keane, the Sunderland manager looked on from the stand.

Falkirk’s defeat of Celtic in the CIS Insurace Cup had perhaps worked against them, because Hearts worked feverishly to deny the prolific Stokes space, as well as Patrick Cregg and Stephen O’Donnell.

Hearts’ movement was far more fluent and they finally broke the deadlock in the 65th minute as Velicka found the net for the sixth time in five games. The Lithuanian striker profited from tigerish ballwinning by Julien Brellier in the centre circle and then a fine pass from Bruno Aguiar but there seemed little danger when Velicka cut in from the left past Karl Dodd and thrashed a shot from the egde of the box that beat Lambers at his near post.

Gordon then almost got in on the act when he spilt a venemous shot from Liam Craig before Lambers atoned for his earlier error by stopping Jamie Mole from scoring as the contest entered a furious finale.

FALKIRK (4-4-2): J Lambers — J Ross (sub: K Dodd 18min), D Barr, K Milne, T Scobbie (sub: M Twaddle, 62) — S Thomson, P Cregg, R Latapy, S O’Donnell (sub: L Craig, 62) — A Stokes, A Gow. Substitutes not used: S Higgins, J Stewart, V Lima, T McManus. Booked: Scobbie

HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (4-4-2): C Gordon — C Karipidis, C Berra, M Zaliukas, L Wallace — N Barasa, J Brellier (sub: P Hartley, 90), B Aguiar, S Mikoliunas — J Mole (sub: J Makela, 75), A Velicka. Substitutes not used : J MacDonald, R Neilson, M Pospisil, K Ivaskevicius, E Johnson. Booked: Aguiar, Barasa.

Referee: M McCurry.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk