Romanov dances as Tynecastle rings with boos

Moira Gordon
At Tynecastle
HEARTS 2
Berra 62; Velicka 88

INVERNESS CT 3
Duncan 22; Rankin 53 pen; Bayne 90
ARE you watching Romanov? That was the chant which boomed from the Tynecastle stands after Hearts slumped two goals behind and the fans faced up to the statistic of just one win in nine games. Three goals, two penalties, one substituted substitute, and a sending off later and the disgruntlement was even more vociferous.

It's the stuff that crises are made of. Certainly a crisis of confidence. The fans knew it and they decided it was about time that their once-glorious leader was forced to accept it as well. Romanov, however, was in Lithuania winning the country's version of Strictly Come Dancing.

Despite the calamity of last weekend's gifted winner to Rangers at Ibrox, Hearts kept faith with goalkeeper Eduardas Kurskis and within minutes they were given cause to doubt the sanity of the decision. As Marius Zaliukas ushered the ball back, shielding it from the Inverness attack, the keeper took his time before finally running out to collect. That was simply the appetiser for what was to come. Kurskis was later sent off.

Already one ahead thanks to Russell Duncan's 22nd minute opener, Inverness were fluid, organised and oozed with the kind of belief a run of four wins on the bounce imbues teams with. When Marius Niculae was played through one-on-one with the Lithuanian, the goalkeeper felled him to give the visitors a penalty, which John Rankin duly converted to increase the lead. That was in the 53rd minute.

In the 62nd minute Christophe Berra rose at the back post to head an Andrew Driver corner into Michael Fraser's net via a deflection and temporarily quell the vocal unrest. The Hearts players claimed afterwards that the final touch had actually come from Calum Elliot, who had replaced Andrius Ksanavicius, after a clash with Ross Tokely forced him off injured. But after celebrating and kissing the badge one minute, Elliot was fuming as he disappeared up the tunnel the next, substituted after less than 30 minutes on the pitch.

Obviously sensing a way back into the game, Hearts threw on both Saulius Mikoliunas and Michal Pospisil. But if things were looking more positive for them in attack, there was growing concern that the real weakness was at the back, and with a couple of car-crash moments, Kurskis invited the pressure back on the home side. First the keeper allowed Niculae's shot to trundle through his legs but was, thankfully for him, far enough off his line to be able to scramble back and prevent a goal. Another foray upfield later and he was at it again. This time he dived full length and allowed Niculae's effort to roll over his outstretched arms but again was lucky to escape. Inverness tried to capitalise on the nerviness and even the Hearts supporters were offering ironic cheers when he did come out and collect.

But if he was a looking shaky then, he lost the plot completely in the 85th minute. On a yellow card already for the penalty incident, he became embroiled in a tussle with Duncan, raising his hands to the midfielder's face and the referee had little option but to show him red. With their quota of subs already on the pitch, Hearts had to hand the keeper's shirt to Lee Wallace. At least the left back knew he could not do much worse than the previous incumbent. His team-mates sought to protect him and also carve out an equaliser and, with two minutes of regulation time remaining, they got it when Andrius Velicka tumbled in the box. As the referee booked Inverness defender Phil McGuire, the Hearts s
triker dusted himself down and sent the spot kick past Fraser.

But Inverness have proved themselves a gutsy and in-form side. Having fought back to beat the defending champions last week, they made the most of things when a Hearts break upfield crumbled, to get another late winner. Zaliukas was weak with his clearance of a Barry Wilson cross and the ball arrived kindly at the feet of Graham Bayne just inside the box and his crisp strike found the target. It took Caley's winning run to five-in-a-row and moved them into the top six. Hearts, who were booed off, sit ninth with absolutely nothing to cheer them.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Russell Duncan showed endeavour and heart and while Inverness have a few such players, his opening goal set the tone of the match.

ASIDE: Despite their own calamity keeper, Hearts fans still gave Inverness sub keeper Zibi Malkowski an ironic welcome.

Taken from the Scotsman