Hearts not to be written off, warns Calderwood

FRANK GILFEATHER and DARREN JOHNSTONE
Jimmy Calderwood, the Aberdeen manager, believes that Hearts are still capable of challenging for third place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, despite their early season difficulties.

Pittodrie plays host to the Tynecastle side today, with Aberdeen looking to extend an unbeaten home run to 14 games. Calderwood, though, pointed to signs of improvement at Hearts since Stevie Frail was given a greater role in the running of the team.

"Stephen has seemingly got control of picking the team, making substitutions and everything else that goes with the job and I think it can only be good for Hearts Football Club," Calderwood said.

"They are battling away and they have had some decent performances and there is something about them again. Because of the size of their squad and the quality in it, they can be very dangerous. You could never underestimate them.

"I'm sure Stevie thinks they can still get into third place in the league and although they have a bit of catching up to do I think that's realistic with the quality they've got."

The manner of Aberdeen's capitulation against Hearts at Tynecastle in November, when they lost 4-1, still rankles with Calderwood. "We went down there and gave them a two-goal start inside 11 minutes," he said. "But then we actually went on to play some good football and I thought at half-time, although we were getting beaten 2-1, we would go on and win the game. We gave another two stupid goals away though and the whole day was just a comedy of errors.

"You can't give any team chances like that, especially not one like Hearts given the amount of quality they have."

Going straight into the manager's squad for today's game is Dave Bus, the Dutch right-back who has signed from De Graafschap until the end of the season. The 29-year-old, who can also operate at centre-back, has been asked to prove he merits a longer-term deal and said yesterday he was proud to be joining Aberdeen.

"We have read in the newspapers in the Netherlands about Aberdeen's forthcoming Uefa Cup games against Bayern Munich. Apart from Celtic and Rangers being known in Holland, the Dutch people see Aberdeen as the third team in Scotland.

"In Holland it is all about tactics and technique whereas in Scotland it is faster and more aggressive and I think that will suit my style more. When my team is in trouble I am prepared to stand up for them."

Aberdeen's UEFA Cup exploits will not have gone unnoticed by Hearts, who have their own claims to be one of Scotland's biggest clubs, but Michael Stewart, the Tynecastle midfielder, insists he and his team-mates have had too much on their own plates to have time to be envious.

Given their current league position - third from bottom - and despite Calderwood's analysis, Hearts look set to miss out on European football for the second year running, while their north-east adversaries have much to look forward to.

In addition to their poor form, the Gorgie club have also remained plagued by managerial instability and Stewart, the former Hibernian and Manchester United player, claims he has not had the chance to admire Aberdeen.

"There have been so many things going on here at the moment that we haven't really been looking elsewhere," he said. "There are a lot of things that need to be worked on and it seems from week to week we have had a lot to deal with here. European games are things you want to be involved in, that goes without saying but I wouldn't say there has been any great time spent thinking about it."

Stewart also refuted the notion that he is a dirty player after having been sent off twice this season. Earlier this month he was one of three Hearts players to be ordered off in the 4-1 defeat to Dundee United, and was also red-carded at Gretna in November.

"I'm a believer in perception as reality and I think you can make of it as much as you want," he said. "Yeah I'm disappointed with the two sending-offs but I could sit down and show you a hundred clips of other incidents where you could argue that should have been a yellow card and that should have been a red.

"I've been unfortunate, I've ended up on the wrong side of a couple of decisions, but it has happened and I have served the punishments which, rightly or wrongly, were harsh."

Taken from the Herald