Kingston sparks race row

A row over racism in the aftermath of 90 minutes of ill-tempered and shoddy football overshadowed Aberdeen’s deserved victory and their move into pole position for a place in next season’s Uefa Cup competition.

At the centre of a verbal skirmish was Layrea Kingston, Heart of Midlothian’s energetic Ghanaian midfield player, sent off midway through the second half for a second bookable offence, then shown a second red card in the room of Steve Conroy, the referee, for accusing the match official of being a racist.

Conroy, who had flashed four other yellow cards before the faces of Hearts players during a dirge of a game, displeased the visitors, especially as, in a highly physical encounter, no Aberdeen participants had been penalised in such a manner.

But it is the accusation of racism that is likely to explode in the face of Kingston given that Conroy’s wife is black, a factor that may not be contained in his report to the SFA but one sure to reverberate round the corridors of Tynecastle and perhaps provoke a statement from the club’s controversial owner, Vladimir Romanov. Might we also hear a public apology from the player, who seemed to be in the thick of the action everywhere on the Pittodtrie pitch? Such an offering may go some way to defusing the situation, though such diplomacy has not been a major characteristic of those running the Tynecastle show.

It must not be forgotten in all of this that Aberdeen’s willingness to battle hard for each other this season has been a key component in their rise to prominence and it was that part of their make-up that brought them victory, courtesy of a well-worked goal as Barry Nicholson fed Steve Lovell for the former Portsmouth and Dundee striker to finish with excellence in the seventh minute.

In truth, though, this was the only piece of football worthy of note. The remaining 83 minutes were all about blood and guts and cancelling out each other’s positive approaches. Little wonder the respective goalkeepers, Jamie Langfield and Craig Gordon, had one of their quieter afternoons of work.

This might not have been the finest advertisement for Scottish football, other than the well-known trait of being up for the fight, but it was certainly a damning piece of promotion for the game in Lithuania. Six of those who played for Hearts at Aberdeen were from the Baltic state and were either not terribly good at what they were there to do, or simply incapable of combating the sheer effort and enthusiasm placed before them by their opponents, an Aberdeen side psyched up for what transpired to be a mammoth task in terms of strength and stamina over a punishing 90 minutes.

Forget pretty and attractive football: it had no place in this battle for a Uefa spot next season as Aberdeen showed it was they, and not the troubled club from the capital, who were more prepared to put their collective shoulder to the wheel and win through on a pitch that would not have been out of place in the farming communities of rural Aberdeenshire.

At this stage of the season, however, Aberdeen are unconcerned about much other than results as Jimmy Calderwood, their manager, seeks to lead them to European football. A win at Motherwell tomorrow night would, of course, be vital were their aspirations.

“We knew it was going to be a battle against Hearts,” Scott Severin, Aberdeen’s influential playmaker, said, “and we battled well and got the three points I think we deserved. They area big, strong, physical team and the manager wanted us to match them and we did that.

“It is important we take something from the game at Motherwell otherwise the win over Hearts would be rather pointless. We have a decent record away from home and next weekend we are at Rangers for another massive game. I can see Hearts bouncing back, however, because they have a big squad and are capable of doing well.”

For Stephen Frail, the Hearts assistant coach, there were no excuses. Aberdeen, he thought, had a greater desire and deserved to win. “It makes our quest for European football more difficult,” he said. “We are not out of it and Aberdeen didn’t secure a Uefa Cup spot by beating us.” Frail expressed disquiet that, despite the physical nature of the game, no home players were booked but today he, Anatoly Korobocha, the interim head coach at Tynecastle, and Roman Romanov, the Hearts chairman, will be talking with Kingston in an effort to sort out the more pressing problem of yet another spat with officialdom.

Aberdeen (4-4-2):J Langfield 7 — M Hart 7, R Anderson 8, A Considine 8, R Foster 7 — B Nicholson 7 (sub: A Diamond, 66min 6), S Severin 8, C Clark 7, J Smith 7 — S Lovell 7 (sub: G Dempsey, 83), C Brewster 7 (sub: L Miller, 87). Substitutes not used:D Soutar K Touzani, D Smith,C Maguire.

Heart of Midlothian (4-4-2): C Gordon 7 — T Kancelsku 5 (sub: C Karipidis, 39 5), M Zaliukas 5, C Berra 7, L Wallace 6 — K Ivaskevicius 5, L Pilibaitis 5, L Kingston 6, A Driver 6 — C Elliot 5 (sub: M Pospisil, 46 6), A Velicka 5 (sub: E Jankauskas, 71 5). Substitutes not used:S Banks,T Fyssas, E Jonsson. Booked: Kingston, Ivaskevicius, Driver, Berra, Jankauskas. Sent off: Kingston.

NEW ROLE FOR IVANAUSKAS

Valdas Ivanauskas, the Heart of Midlothian head coach, is set to take up a role that includes duties across the whole of Vladimir Romanov’s football empire.

Ivanauskas has been away from Tynecastle for three weeks and has been replaced on an interim basis by Anatoly Korobochka. And his assistant, Stephen Frail, now expects Ivanauskas to combine a new role at Tynecastle with duties at the Lithuanian side, FBK Kaunas, and MTZ Ripo, of Belarus. Romanov, the Hearts owner, controls the two clubs through his UBIG investment group.

Frail said of Ivanauskas’s new role: “I understand it’s for UBIG, if that takes in Kaunas, the Belorussian team and Hearts. What Valdas’s role will be here, I’m sure Mr Romanov knows, but I expect it to be a role that he maybe takes in Hearts for a few weeks and then another club.

“Maybe he will act as someone who then goes back to Mr Romanov with different things that he’s maybe seen at each club and helps him out that way. I don’t know if it will stretch to players getting moved between clubs.”

Taken from timesonline.co.uk