Hearts grab point amid tribulation

RANGERS 0
HEARTS 0

A DAY that began in confusion and turbulence for Hearts ended with the sweet sound of Charlie Richmond's last whistle. Hearts had a tiny share of possession yesterday and they enjoyed only a small percentage of the chances but they were dead even with Rangers where it mattered most. A goalless draw, in the circumstances, must have felt like a triumph.
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In the closing stages Rangers had a Barry Ferguson goal disallowed (Walter Smith was not happy at the offside decision but it looked a correct call) then watched as a Charlie Adam piledriver flew over and a David Weir header was hacked clear by Ibrahim Tall. Hearts survived, helped on their way by some solid defending under pressure, typified by Steve Banks, who replaced the perhaps departing Craig Gordon in goal, and Christophe Berra, who was a rock at the heart of their defence.

Hearts fans woke to the news that there was more trouble at mill, that various clubs are sniffing around at least five of their players and that Vladimir Romanov is not exactly beating them away with a big stick. On the contrary, he appears more than keen to listen to bids for Gordon, Paul Hartley, Julien Brellier, Robbie Neilson and Michal Pospisil. Having shelled out £5.9m on land around Tynecastle in the last few weeks, Vlad has got to find cash from somewhere right now.

The story developed further yesterday morning when it emerged that solid offers had been made for Hartley (almost certainly from Rangers but Blackburn are believed to be interested as well, seeing him as a possible replacement for the injured Robbie Savage) and for Gordon (Fulham reputedly upping their original offer of £2.5m to £4m). Pospisil is said to be the subject of a £100,000 approach from Bristol City.

These rumours hardened when Hartley and Gordon were left out of Ivanuskas' squad for what he later described as "football business" reasons and "football politics". This was all at the behest of the man in Lithuania. It had been a while since Romanov had created a noise but, fair play to him, when he re-emerged from his quiet spell he did so with foghorns blaring and lights flashing.

Hearts have often moaned about getting a negative press in the lead-in to meetings with the Old Firm. Yesterday they pulled the pin on the grenade all by themselves but you have to give the team an awful lot of credit for the manner in which they held it together. Hearts began with Banks in goal and Neil McCann in the centre of midfield with the impressive Andrew Driver away on the left. Rangers gave a debut to Ugo Ehiogu, their Dad's Army centre-back pairing completed by David Weir.

Rangers have had a relatively easy ride since Smith took over - successive wins against Dundee United and Dunfermline without a goal being lost - but Hearts, even without key men, had enough about them to provide a stern test for Smith's new dawn. Hearts are nothing if not committed and aggressive. Ivanauskas deserves credit for keeping their spirit intact amid all the mayhem swirling about their heads.

The two 'new' Rangers centre-backs had a few uncomfortable moments early on, allowing Hearts to turn and shoot on goal when a crunching tackle was called for but saying that Velicka and Roman Bednar didn't cause Allan McGregor a great deal of concern. Driver had some nice moments out wide as well.

In a game short on quality, most of the close shaves were down the other end, though. Libor Sionko had a fine chance close to the half hour but couldn't put it away then, within seconds, the lively Nacho Novo played Ferguson into the Hearts penalty area, the captain only being denied by a decent save by Banks. Still, there was a scramble to get it clear, Hearts only surviving after Boyd put his effort under pressure from the outstanding Berra. In an indication of how close the striker was to scoring Boyd drove his fist into the ground in frustration.

Hearts, meanwhile, had to wait until the 49th minute for another chance, Andrius Velicka back-heeling nicely to Driver in space at the edge of the penalty area. Driver rushed his shot when he had no need to and skied it. Rangers dominated possession thereafter.

Dominated - but with little end product. Smith may have brought solidity to a once creaking defence but ingenuity is something they still lack. Ferguson was very good but he was pretty much alone in the creativity stakes. The manager will be trying hard in the next few days to get him some support in that regard. Clearly, Smith doesn't see Thomas Buffel as the solution. Buffel didn't even make the Rangers squad for this game.

As Rangers toiled, Filip Sebo came on for Boyd in the 68th minute and Chris Burke replaced Sionko in the 72nd and, to their credit, they brought greater urgency to Rangers' play. Banks was forced into pawing away a high ball from the determined Sebo - still a popular figure in these parts despite his inability to score a goal - and Burke weighed-in himself soon after. This was a worrying moment for Hearts as Novo spread the play wide to Burke on the right who swung in a delightful cross for Ferguson, running free at the near post. Ferguson put it away on the volley and wheeled off to take the acclaim from the fans.

To his horror the goal was disallowed for offside. Hearts survived the pressure that followed and deserved their point in the end.

Taken from the Scotsman