Stewart takes the brickbats as Hearts blow hot

Ewan Murray at Love Street
Monday October 1, 2007
The Guardian

Very little involving Heart of Midlothian under the stewardship of Vladimir Romanov has been classed as routine. This was almost the exception: a valuable three points at a traditionally troublesome venue, which takes the Tynecastle outfit's record to five victories in their last six matches, overshadowed by a diving scandal. For once, howls of derision were not directed towards one of Hearts' Lithuanian players.

It was Michael Stewart, the former Manchester United midfielder, who fell under a 56th-minute challenge from David van Zanten. Stewart promptly dusted himself down to send Hearts 2-0 up after Andrew Driver had fired them ahead with a stunning left-foot drive in the opening period. "He [Stewart] basically threw himself to the ground and conned the referee," was Van Zanten's brief summation of events.

Article continues
The penalty could certainly be classed in the soft bracket, but Van Zanten had been found wanting as Stewart knocked the ball beyond him. St Mirren had a more genuine grievance over the non-award of a penalty when Jose Goncalves handled a Chris Birchall header.

Hearts remain the great unpredictables of Scottish football; in the space of 15 days they have demolished Rangers, returned one of the poorest performances of the Premier League season in suffering defeat at Inverness, been taken to extra-time by First Division Dunfermline in the CIS Cup and, now, secured a win over a St Mirren side they failed to beat last season. They always appeared more menacing in attack than their opponents but inexplicably thought they could play out a 2-0 lead at the pace of a training session.

Driver, outstanding throughout, punished St Mirren with a fierce angled shot, the only highlight of an otherwise mundane first half, an issue not helped by a series of bizarre refereeing decisions from John Underhill. Stewart's penalty appeared to have secured the win for Hearts but their casual approach - typified when goalkeeper Anthony Basso tried to dribble the ball around St Mirren's Stewart Kean - almost proved costly.

Mark Corcoran headed Birchall's cross beyond the wayward goalkeeper but Hearts finally killed the contest, seven minutes from time, as the substitute Andruis Velicka finished smartly from the latest fine Driver through pass. With no wins from their last five outings, that will not prevent sentiments of injustice being the order of the day in St Mirren, in the short-term at least.

Man of the match Andrew Driver (Heart of Midlothian)

Taken from the Guardian/Observer