It was cold enough for Cossack hats on Saturday, but the headwear that was all the rage last year at Tynecastle is now conspicuous by its absence. Ditto Craig Gordon.

Lauded as "one of the best goalkeepers in Europe" on Friday by the Hearts' assistant manager and described as the club's greatest in the official match programme, Scotland's No1 continues to find compliments easier to come by than a starting place.

Saturday's visit of Inverness Caledonian Thistle was the third match in succession he has sat out and on this occasion it was coupled with the ignominy of being relegated from the bench to the stand, from where he watched Hearts eke out a dreary and barely deserved win.

This has been a winter of genuine discontent at Tynecastle and, for the club's fans, Michal Pospisil's late headed winner offered no more comfort than the fanciful post-match explanation of a forlorn Valdas Ivanauskas.

Questioned on Gordon's omission, he sighed: "The transfer window was very hard for the young boy and the speculation was not so good. It was a problem.

"For Scotland's No1 keeper to be on the bench is not good for him, so in my opinion it is better that he is in the stand. He is a young lad and he needs to relax in his football life and not have attention on him every weekend.

"It is a surprise for him, but he is captain and he is staying calm. That is good."

Gordon, insisted Ivanauskas, would "definitely" play for Hearts again, but there was no air of authority to his answer of "maybe next week" to the question of when. He did, though, confirm that the Scotland keeper would eventually return regardless of the form of Steve Banks, thus ensuring that the Englishman - who has always proved a dependable deputy - will soon be added to list of unfortunate victims in this embarrassing debacle.

No matter that Banks, who turned 35 on Friday, was the best player on show against Caley, nor that he has kept a clean sheet in each of his three league appearances this season. Hearts did, at least, announce that the former Gillingham keeper had been handed a new one-year deal, a reward thoroughly merited, if only by a miraculous first-minute tip away from Graham Bayne. That save was so good that Charlie Christie observed: "Even Craig might not have got that one."

The irony for Hearts is that, for all the fuss over Gordon's omission, it is at the other end of the pitch that they look more bereft.

On Saturday, Ivanauskas opted to give the brawny Arkadiusz Klimek a debut up front, and it was apparent from the offset that the Pole - who takes to 14 Hearts' ranks of former Kaunas players - was never likely to prove an effective foil for the equally immobile Edgaras Jankauskas.

As a result, it was Banks who was forced into the two best saves of the first half, the second of which saw him palm round the post a 20-yard shot from Barry Wilson, denying the visitors' captain-for-the-day a goal to mark his 300th Caley appearance.

There was, however, some encouragement for Hearts in the shape of the contribution of Laryea Kingston, who stamped his authority on his home debut with an adventurous midfield performance.

"He was impressive . . . he bossed us a bit," was Christie's gracious verdict on the Ghanaian international, whose energy and range of passing suggest he will go some way towards filling the void left by Paul Hartley.

The former Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder - a midweek goalscorer for Ghana - did, though, tire in the second half, and Ivanauskas was fortunate to have in Andy Driver someone capable of taking up the creative mantle.

The 19-year-old had twice gone close, once in the first half with a low shot into the body of Michael Fraser and later with a dipping volley, before he provided his most telling contribution.

With eight minutes remaining, and having been shown inside from the left on his weaker foot, Driver provided an inviting deep cross for Pospisil, who with his first touch angled a header back across goal and inside the far post.

What they said: "The boys were very, very tired after last weekend, which was a big shock for the club and for the players. I don't think they deserved to lose against Dunfermline but that's football and if you lose the game in the last 20 seconds it is doubly hard to take. So the team are very tired but very pleased."
Valdas Ivanauskas, Head Coach, Hearts

"It's a very hard venue to come to, arguably the third hardest in the league, but I genuinely felt the way we've been playing we had a chance to come here and not just draw but win. That was the most disappointing we've played in 2007 but if we play one bad game in eight throughout the season I'll settle for that."
Charlie Christie, Manager, ICT

8:28pm Monday 12th February 2007

By STEPHEN SULLIVAN

Taken from the Herald