No.1 error costs Hearts

On Saturday, the best and worst of the eastern Europeans stood out in a demoralising defeat to Rangers.

The verdict on Eduardas Kurskis, though, would seem to be unanimous: Not fit to wear the jersey.

Holding the hosts 1-1 at Ibrox would have been a creditable result, particularly as Kestutis Ivaskevicius and Andrius Velicka had worked so tirelessly to haul Hearts level from a 1-0 interval deficit. Those two, along with Andy Driver, were the positives. Kurskis' late aberration stood out as the low point, ensuring the goalkeeping situation at Tynecastle continues to get everyone down. It is generally accepted within football that the last line of defence should not be tampered with. The Hearts hierarchy have overlooked this for weeks now and have suffered as a result in their last two fixtures against Motherwell and now Rangers.

Lee McCulloch's opening goal placed Walter Smith's side deservedly in the ascendancy at half-time, but Ivaskevicius replaced Saulius Mikoliunas like a man possessed after the interval. His influence helped earn a free-kick from which Velicka nodded the equaliser, his club's 500th SPL goal. Then his compatriot intervened with a schoolboy error.

As McCulloch's shot looped into the air four minutes from time, Kurskis positioned himself for a straightforward catch but somehow allowed the ball to slip from his grasp. Within seconds the Rangers bench erupted in undiluted joy watching the ball edge over the goal line. Their surprise was obvious, for Smith, Ally McCoist and Co knew Hearts were good for a point. Kurskis, meanwhile, lay crouched on his line, an inconsolable figure who had been placed in the firing line by the mad selection policy that continues to undermine Hearts' season.

"I know who is my first choice but it would be unfair of me to talk about the goalkeeping situation at the minute," said assistant coach Stephen Frail. "Eduardas played and it's going to be difficult to lift him up because it was a bad mistake. We need to sit down, make sure we get the best goalkeeper and play him every week.

"It might be at the back of the players' minds but other keepers throw in goals. It's magnified here because three of them have played in our last six games. It's not great because any player, goalkeeper or outfield, needs to play regularly."

Frail was asked about the goalkeeping choice being imposed on Hearts coaching staff from above. "It's difficult to sit and answer that," he said. "We have three goalkeepers and we need to make sure that, whoever picks the team, the one that goes in is the right one. It's as important a position as your top striker, probably more so. When the goalkeeper makes a mistake it can cost you the game and that's what happened. It's difficult to defend it."

Ibrahim Tall's exclusion from matchday 18 was similarly impossible to justify. Rather than have the experienced defender and Czech striker Michal Pospisil in reserve – if not starting in Tall's case – Hearts opted to name Ricardas Beniusis and young Ryan McGowan amongst their substitutes. The latter may be a highly-rated prospect but, for a trip to Ibrox, it amounted to two more ludicrous decisions.

Credit, though, to those who did manage to intimidate Rangers. Ivaskevicius, on Saturday's form, would easily force Mikoliunas out of the side and Velicka's movement for the goal rendered both Carlos Cuellar and David Weir helpless. Driver was always a danger, but the hosts' persistence paid off as they rediscovered a resilience so absent against Lyon days earlier. "They never really threatened at all until they got the goal," said Smith of Hearts. "Ivaskevicius had one or two moments and the game was a bit end to end for a while. We then managed to push them back a little and got some good fortune at the end to win. We were just pleased to get the game over with and win after our efforts in midweek.

"Hearts are a difficult team because their levels of motivation against Rangers are always extremely high. We had to handle that after a tiring week and at the end of the day we're really pleased to win the game, albeit by a bit of good fortune."

Frail added: "I thought we were excellent in the second half and it was a horrible way to lose the game. We seem to win big games, like Celtic in the CIS Cup, Rangers at Tynecastle, but then we lose at Inverness and places like that.

"We didn't break like we should have in the first half but the players had the belief in the second half to take the game to Rangers and we were a couple of minutes away from a well-earned point."

The substitution of Velicka moments after the equaliser was another perplex
ing aspect of the afternoon. Suggestions that certain Hearts changes are pre-ordained before kick-off weren't dismissed by Frail. "I don't even know if the substitutions are always decided before the game," he said. "They (club management] have made decisions before and they have been right.Velicka wasn't injured. We looked at him and he looked tired so we took him off. It wasn't my call. I don't think it's any secret that I don't make the substitutions but that wasn't the reason we lost the game. Andrius had done so much work, given everything he had and scored a great goal. It's not like we put on a defender, we put someone on with real pace and power (Christian Nade] but he didn't really get into the game. That's a disappointing factor."

Events four minutes from time overshadowed everything, however. Just as unfathomable team selection threatens to overshadow Hearts' entire season.

Taken from the Scotsman