Aberdeen 0 - 1 Hearts

Are Heart of Midlothian beginning to come good at last? Perhaps that question will be answered in full on Wednesday night when they face Rangers in the CIS Insurance Cup semi-final at Hampden.

They went some way to providing a positive response in leaving Pittodrie on Saturday with three valuable points and a second successive league win, their first back-to-back victories of the season following the previous weekend's result against Hibernian.

So, what has made the difference? The appointment of Stevie Frail as the sole man in charge of team affairs, according to Christophe Berra, the captain.
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"You can see since he has taken over that training is better," Berra said. "It's more high tempo and more enjoyable and people are looking forward to coming into training. We're beginning to get results."

Christian Nade's luck was in 10 minutes into the second half as he ambled back up-field after an attacking move only to latch on to a clumsy attempt by Stuart Duff, making his Dons debut, to pass the ball back to Jamie Langfield, his goalkeeper.

It was, indeed, an opportune moment for the striker, on-loan from Sheffield United, and he did not squander the opportunity.

But while the later stages of an entertaining game proved a backs-to-the-wall affair for the visitors, they could just as easily have trebled their goals tally had Langfield not been in excellent form.

"They put us under a lot of pressure as they went to a 2-4-4 formation," said Berra, "but our goalkeeper didn't have a great deal to do.

"We know Rangers are there for the taking on Wednesday and if we perform the way we did at Aberdeen and show the same work-rate and defend the way we did and maybe take the chances a bit better, they'll know they are in for a game."

Langfield was critical of William Collum, for what he described as leniency towards Berra, who was booked in the second half for his constant close attention to Lee Miller.

"Miller got knocked about silly," Langfield said, "and it was frustrating for him. But that's us lost at home for the first time in 15 games at Pittodrie this season and we need to get back to our best and put on a show on Tuesday."

It is then that the Pittodrie side will travel to Tynecastle for their League Cup semi-final against Dundee United as they bid to shrug off their inconsistency and produce something much better than the workhorse stuff on show on Saturday.

It was a rough, tough, physical encounter with the one controversial moment, late in the game when Saulius Mikoliunas went down in the penalty box under pressure from Zander Diamond, that flared up to provide a major talking point.

Did he dive, as Collum's yellow card suggested? Or should a penalty kick have been awarded?

It didn't matter in the end, and of more concern to Frail is whether he can keep his star performer, Velicka, at Tynecastle far beyond the current transfer window.

"Velicka, whether or not he plays well," Frail said, "keeps churning out performances of 100% commitment and work-rate and he usually chips in with a goal. He summed up the the whole spirit I'm looking for. He's been great for us. We want to keep him and all our good players."

Taken from the Herald