Robson treble sparks fury at Tynecastle

HEARTS 0
Robson 51, 59, 78; Hunt 70

DUNDEE UTD 4

HEARTS may not need to worry about slashing the capacity of Tynecastle while work is carried out on a new main stand. The concern could be filling it once the facelift is complete. If Hearts fans' patience has been stretched this season, yesterday, it snapped.

So too have the players. As they left the pitch to a torrent of boos and abuse, there were angry scenes as Craig Gordon was asked where the heart was. About to head up the tunnel he stopped and turned on the braying mob, pulling off the captain's armband and while Steve Banks tried to haul him away he threw it on to the roof of the dugout before retrieving it.

It was an ugly end to a pretty horrible Hearts performance. Barry Robson's low strike had hardly touched the back of Craig Gordon's net to give the home team a two-goal advantage when disgruntled fans started heading for the exit. When Noel Hunt made it 3-0 in the 70th minute the number of deserters grew and those who stayed behind were quick to vent their wrath in the direction of the Directors' Box. The stadium was barely half full as Robson celebrated his hat-trick eight minutes later. It doesn't bode well for the club's push for season ticket renewals which gets under way tomorrow.

But the United supporters who had travelled were a happier bunch. Their team had not scored more than one goal in a league game since the turn of the year and while Hearts are still in contention for a European spot, the Tannadice side are in a group vying for seventh place.

The first half, which served up controversy with the sending off of both Ibrahim Tall and David Roberston after they squared up in 32 minutes, but little football which could be described as aesthetically appealing, had served notice that United were in the mood for taking something from this game. The Gogie outfit may have had marginally more possession but it was Craig Levein's men who posed the greater goal threat. In the 26th minute they were denied by the post when a long ball through from David McCracken was misjudged by the Hearts rearguard and Hunt lashed his effort in only to be denied by the upright.

The United cause was aided by head coach Anatoly Korobochka's decision not to fill the void left by Tall, who is alleged to have swung an elbow at Robertson. It was a costly mistake with the visitors making the most of the space and Stevie Robb in particular allowed to foray unfettered.

Robb was involved when the gap was exploited in the 51st minute as United broke the deadlock. Playing the ball through to Robson, the captain left-footed it low past his Hearts counterpart in the home goal. Eight minutes later it was 2-0 and any hopes the home fans were clinging to that the first goal would serve as a boot up the backside dispersed as quickly as the crowd. That one came from Robson again. Through one-on-one with Gordon, inside the box, he skelped it low and it was under the keeper and into the net.

At that point changes should have been made to plug the gaps but instead Hearts muddled on and United capitalised. Robb was again the man with the assist as he set up Hunt and this time the striker buried it from the back post, high into the net.

The lack of fight being shown at that stage was lambasted by the home crowd and afterwards assistant coach Stevie Frail admitted it was "abysmal and unacceptable". Unsure whether enough of his players had been willing to give enough for the cause, he said it was about time they gave more and admitted that if he was a fan he would have considered leaving too.

Plenty of them did when Robson completed the rout in the 78th minute. The others may have shown more loyalty but they were no less aggrieved.

Taken from the Scotsman