Hearts hit by seventh deadly sin

Hearts 0
Rangers 1

THE ruthless, and undoubtedly stubborn, streaks which run through Vladimir Romanov's veins are among the qualities which made him so successful as a businessman in his homeland.

However those same characteristics are in danger of reversing any of the progress he has made since taking over as Hearts owner two seasons ago.

The Lithuanian-based banker was not at Tynecastle to see his side fall to fifth place in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague table courtesy of a goal from Nacho Novo, or to see them fail to win for the seventh game on the bounce.

However, sporting director Alex Koslovski will undoubtedly report back to his countryman after hearing Lithuanian players jeered by their own supporters as their names were read out before kick-off and seeing groups of supporters gather outside the stadium after the final whistle to protest at what is happening to their club.

Pockets of supporters refused to leave the ground after the final whistle, unfurling banners backing the demoted Steven Pressley, while others gathered outside the stadium chanting "sack the board" and demanding their captain be reinstated.

The supporters who last season saw their side lift the Scottish Cup in dramatic fashion after a penalty shoot-out with Gretna and claim second place in the SPL table finally seem to have had enough of the constant interference with team selection and the ridicule which comes with seeing your club splashed across the front and back pages of the newspapers every single day.

But Koslovski, who is fast becoming the public face of Hearts despite generally being viewed as a translator, refused to acknowledge their frustrations were merited and instead accused the Tynecastle support of discriminating against players simply because of their nationality.

He said: "The fans were unhappy before this game. Because these players are Lithuanian they are not in favour.

"Mikoliunas came out as a substitute and it is always very difficult, it is not only because he is one of the Lithuanian players.

"I am surprised that Barasa was booed by the fans and I think it is a little bit of discrimination because I think he played very well so I think it is because he is Lithuanian.

"What is wrong with Marius Zaliukas, who has been booed before?

"No-one is being favoured because they are Lithuanian. That is simply untrue."

The Tynecastle side's winless run stretches back to the start of October and the supporters' frustrations boiled over after yet more changes were made to the starting line-up. Again there was no place for Pressley, although the defender this time made it onto the bench and was cheered every time he emerged to warm-up on the trackside.

Paul Hartley was reinstated at the expense of Saulius Mikoliunas and handed the captain's armband, while a chorus of boos rang around the ground as Lithuanian Nerijus Barasa's name was again announced in place of Robbie Neilson's.

Ibrahim Tall was brought back in to replace Christos Karipidis but Rangers made just one change from the side which beat Dunfermline last week, Kris Boyd on from the start, replacing on-loan Lee Martin.

Hearts had an opportunity to put their troubles behind them with less than two minutes gone when Rangers defender Karl Svensson was short with a pass-back to his keeper. The Swede has struggled to adapt since his move to Ibrox in the summer and he showed more signs of uncertainty when his poor attempt of pass to Allan McGregor was misplaced.

Bruno Aguiar chased the loose ball but the Rangers keeper did well to race from his goal and boot it clear before the Portuguese midfielder could collect.

Just before the break Novo pounced on the loose ball after Zaliukas slid in late on Barry Ferguson and raced towards the box before picking out Dado Prso, only for the Croatian to stab the ball past Craig Gordon's left-hand post.

Within seconds of the restart the Jambos almost took the lead when Jamie Mole drew two defenders away to allow Andrius Velicka to get a shot in from the edge of the box but again McGregor was able to block.

At the other end Craig Gordon went one better when Prso cut the ball into the box for Ferguson, who took one touch to steady himself before drilling the ball towards the Hearts goal. As has happened so often this season though, the Scotland internationalist showed quick reactions to beat the effort away.

The Ibrox side though took the lead with 12 minutes left when Novo - who was lucky to be on the park after only being yellow-carded having earlier aiming a sly kick at Zaliukas - picked the ball up in the middle of the park and ran to the edge of the box before firing in a right-foot shot that took enough of a deflection off Christophe Berra to send it past Gordon.

Hartley had a chance to earn a share of the spoils when Novo cut him down on the edge of the box and it was well within his range, but instead he sent it high over the bar.

After the match Hartley insisted he doesn't want to be captain on a permanent basis and called for Pressley to be reinstated as soon as possible. "I'm not the captain, there's only one captain at the club and that is Steven and the sooner he gets back in the team, the better," he said. "I would never want the armband anyway. I'm vice-captain so if he's injured or he's not well, then I'm more than happy to take over he armband. But apart from that, there's only one captain and that's Steven Pressley.

"I think that is between Steven and the club, although I would like to think it will be resolved soon. He has been a great captain for the club over the last eight years and you want your best players playing in the team, no doubt about that, and he is our main man.

"He is a fantastic leader and the sooner he gets back in the team, the better."

The midfielder admitted that he doesn't agree with players being jeered by their own supporters, but he praised the Tynecastle fans for getting right behind their team from the word go yesterday: "I think that the fans have got a right to put their feelings across and they are entitled to their opinions, there's no doubt about that.

"They don't like what's going, there are a lot of us who don't like what's going on, and they've got the right to go and protest.

"You've got to give them one thing though, they were right behind the players from the word go yesterday, as they have been right the way through the season. We've had some difficult times here in the past and one thing that is for sure is that the fans always back us.

"There's nothing we can do about players being booed, as I said the supporters are entitled to their opinions. No-one likes being booed though and I would condemn that, I don't like supporters booing their own players, you've got to get behind the players on the park.

"We want to see our supporters getting right behind the players."

Taken from the Scotsman