Irrational and in disarray, Hearts have no answers

SUPPORTERS in ferment have a heightened sense of hyperbole. Amid the rush of protesting Hearts fans clogging the airwaves on Saturday evening, one or two veterans insisted that the present side is "the worst I've seen in 50 years". There have been, of course, more moderate teams operating out of Tynecastle in the past ten years.

But, considering the thrilling promise that existed at Hearts as recently as 16 months ago, the grievances - and the exaggeration - were as understandable and as justified as they were predictable.
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Like the seismic shift of scaffolding, the slide of a football club seems to be unstoppable until complete collapse occurs and rebuilding is required. The damage is comprehensive, affecting every area of the structure.

In the wake of this elimination from the Tennent's Scottish Cup at Dunfermline, thereby surrendering the trophy they won last season, Hearts' general disarray and consequent descent into irrationality was once again encapsulated in the refusal of their head coach, Valdas Ivanauskas, to attend the media conference.

In his absence, his assistant, Stevie Frail, was an uncomfortable deputy, unfairly placed in the position of having to field questions on the latest series of turbulence that included the sale of Paul Hartley to Celtic, another influx of on-loan players from eastern Europe and the continuing omission of goalkeeper Craig Gordon. Unsurprisingly, Frail was unable to comment on any of these topics.

Ivanauskas, reminded of contractual obligations, was virtually forced into a short interview by BBC Radio Scotland - the broadcaster's due as part of its rights agreement - at which he achieved nothing more distinguished than a demonstration of the kind of illogicality that seems these days to be the answer to every set-back.

Ivanauskas dwelled mainly on the alleged incompetence of referee Mike McCurry, who had, in fact, enjoyed a relatively controversy-free afternoon at a match so placid that it offered no test. The main thrust of the Lithuanian's argument concerned McCurry's tendency to book Hearts players more readily than those from Dunfermline.

This was a strange proposition, since only one from each side - Andrew Driver, for a foul on Greg Ross, and Phil McGuire, dissent - was issued with a yellow card. If there was a certain leniency about the referee's handling of one or two other questionable challenges, he made no decisions that had a telling influence on the outcome of the match.

Ivanauskas, like several others in the away dressing-room, believed that the free kick that led to Scott Wilson's stoppage-time winning goal was unjustified. Whether it was or not, Dunfermline still had some work to do to convert the award into a goal and if blame was to be apportioned, the bulk of it should have gone to the Hearts defenders who failed to handle the threat.

Ivanauskas would have been well advised to concentrate on the frailties that led to his team's latest reversal, a veritable calamity that effectively ended their season at the beginning of February. Continuing talk of the need to re-group and maintain the challenge for second place in the Premierleague sounds more hollow by the week, as Hearts increasingly look like just another part of the pack trudging a long way behind Celtic.

If Ivanauskas could reasonably claim that his team did not have much luck on their visit to East End Park, he would also have to concede that the failure was attributable primarily to their own flawed attempts at translating their general superiority into victory.

In truth, Hearts did much more than Dunfermline to win the tie, giving the home goalkeeper, Dorus de Vries, considerably more work than the home team provided for Gordon's stand-in, Steve Banks. De Vries achieved important saves from Michal Pospisil and Marius Zaliukas, while McGuire headed a Driver shot out from under the crossbar and substitute Edgaras Jankauskas failed to convert a late opportunity that should have seen Hearts into the quarter-finals.

Unfamiliarity may be a significant factor in Hearts' decline this season, the team changing as regularly as the wind. The latest arrival, midfielder Laryea Kingston, showed promise on his introduction to a style of football which would be quite alien to him. On loan from Terek Grozny in Russia, the Ghanaian showed glimpses of mobility, skill and astuteness that could make him a useful asset.

Dunfermline's love affair with history shows no signs of flagging. The sense of distinction that pervades the ancient seat of the kings of Scotland presently concerns itself with the less lofty and more discomfiting possibility of achieving relegation and a Scottish Cup triumph in the same season. Having driven Rangers and Hearts out of the cup while remaining eight points adrift of St Mirren at the bottom of the Premierleague, manager Stephen Kenny's team are pretty well advanced along the road to an unprecedented double.

They remain unlikely cup winners, however, largely because of their bluntness in attack. On Kenny's own admission, Dunfermline's resoluteness in defence and industry in midfield - the latter complemented by the guile and ball skills of 19-year-old Adam Hammill, on loan from Liverpool - are devalued by a pronounced lack of goals.

It was hardly a surprise that their winner against Hearts should come from a defender, Wilson heading Hammill's cross from the right past Banks after the teenager had received the short free kick from substitute Owen Morrison.

For those Hearts fans who once again turned up en masse, clearly outnumbering the home support, it was a moment that turned the remaining three months of an endlessly trying season into a bleak prospect.

Taken from the Scotsman