Announcer brings new heart to Stevie Frail’s players

There can’t be too many moments in football history where a stadium announcer is responsible for turning the fortunes of a club's entire season around. Yet when Stevie Frail, the Heart of Midlothian caretaker manager, ordered his players back on to the pitch at Tynecastle a full five minutes ahead of Kilmarnock, their opponents, during the half-time break, their situation looked bleak.

After having received their eighth red card of the season after a stupid pair of bookings from Callum Elliot, Hearts had fallen a goal behind on the stroke of half time to a Paul di Giacomo strike, which was sending them spinning to their seventh defeat in a row.

The crowd were baying for blood and it seemed this once-proud club, who had three players sent off at Dundee United in their previous match, had reached a new low. But, after being instructed by Frail, the stadium announcer, Scott Wilson, implored the home fans to get behind the team instead of on their backs in a rousing rant.

And, quicker than a Vladamir Romanov Lithuanian Celebrity Strictly Come Dancing foxtrot, Hearts were suddenly transformed.

Despite being a man down, they fought like a team possessed. They were easily the better side, their long-lambasted Lithuanian players were by far the best on display and they grabbed a well-deserved equaliser through one of them, Andrius Velicka, who threw himself at the goal like an old-fashioned Scottish centre forward.

They were roared on by the crowd, who got right behind them for a change after witnessing elements that had been missing all season — fight, spirit and commitment.

Frail admitted after the match that the ploy had worked a treat. “I deliberately sent them out five minutes before the start of the second half,” he admitted. “I got someone to pass on a message to the stadium announcer to see if he could have a few words to get the crowd behind us.

“We were down to ten men for 55 minutes of the game after Calum Elliot was sent off and a goal down. But we stood up in the second half. I need to say thanks to the fans too, they got right behind the players in the second half.

“The players saw the reaction of the fans and that was the spur they needed. It’s a point, but we can build on it. I wanted them to work harder and I think they showed that and I’m really proud of them.”

Elliot’s second booking came about after a particularly daft and needless challenge on Tim Clancy as the Kilmarnock defender was going away from his own goal towards the corner flag. With Hearts fans’ perceived injustice by the SFA and their officials at their height, Clancy was booed for the rest of the match.

“Our goalkeeper made a save and the ball was on the byline,” Clancy explained afterwards. “I had gone to clear it with my left foot and he [Elliot] was right in my face. I saw him leave the ground, I got my foot to the ball and he just came into me.

“It was a silly tackle to make when you are already on a booking. If my leg had been planted, it could have been a lot worse. I don’t think there was any malice intended, though.

He just seemed eager to block the ball. It wasn’t vicious. He was just committed, but having been booked already, a tackle like that is overenthusiasm.”

Kilmarnock were dreadful in the second half and seemed to retreat deeper and deeper despite the extra-man advantage. Jim Jefferies, the Kilmarnock manager, accepted the Tynecastle crowd had played a part in Hearts regaining parity, but blamed his own team for that.

“We scored a fantastic goal but their equaliser changed the game,” he admitted. “The crowd got behind them and suddenly thought they could go and get a winner, but that was down to us because we kept giving them the ball. Near the end we had three great chances to win it, but we just kept giving the ball away in the second half.”

Heart of Midlothian (4-3-3) S Banks 6 R Neilson 6 M Karipidis 7 C Berra 7 J Goncalves 7 D Cesnauskis 8 R Palazuelos 6 E Jonsson 7 A Ksanavicius 6 C Elliot R 4 A Velicka 7 Substitutes S Mikoliunas 7 (for Ksanavicius, 53min), C Nade (for Velicka, 83), M Posposil (for Cesnauskis, 87) Not used A Basso, R McGowan, R Beniusis, J Brown.

Kilmarnock (3-5-2) A Combe 8 M Corrigan 7 S Ford 7 T Clancy 6 G Hay 6 D Invincibile 7 G Locke 6 J Fowler 7 J Hamill 7 C Nish Y 5 P Di Giacomo 7 Substitutes A Johnston 3 (for Locke, 65min), W Gibson (for Di Giacomo, 82) Not used C Harpur, A Morgan, D Fernandez, I Flannigan, F Wright.

Refree J Underhill
Attendance 14,346

Taken from timesonline.co.uk