Steve Frail steadies ship and set sights on Europe

It’s amazing what a bit of stability can do for a team. Hearts have been a shambolic joke for most of the season, although there were few laughing down Gorgie way. Now they are on a mission to make Europe.

The Tynecastle side managed their third win and third clean sheet in a row against the bottom side in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. It was also the first time they have beaten the Borders team inside 90 minutes. More importantly though, there are real signs at last that Hearts have got the basis of a half-decent side again now they have stopped their ridiculous picking-the-team-through-Vladimir-Romanov policy and handed the reins to a proper manager.

Steve Frail may remain in the caretaker role, but he has transformed a side that were in freefall by picking the basis of the same squad in the same positions week in, week out. Players appear to know what they are doing and promising partnerships are forming. It helps that they have probably got the most naturally gifted finisher at the club since John Robertson. Andrius Velicka netted a double in the first half to make it game over by the break and the Lithuanian is on top form at the moment and could easily have scored five.

While comparisons with Robertson may be slightly premature, he scored his fourteenth of the season on Saturday and it is rare these days for teams to rely on the services of a 20-goal-a-season man. Robbie Neilson, a Hearts stalwart, believes that Velicka’s contribution may stop any fan from believing their season is over after their exits from all the cup competitions.

“It makes a big difference knowing that if you put the ball into the box, there is someone there who can take the chances,” Neilson said. “We all certainly hope the ball will fall to him in the box because we are confident he will put it away. He is appreciated by the fans too because they know he scores goals.

“Success for us this season would be third place and European football. Of course it is a big ask but it is what we have to aim for. It is fair to say if we finish outwith that position, then the season will have been a disappointment. We have got to look at getting into the top six, which we can be fairly confident about and pushing on from there.”

Frail certainly believes his side have got a top-six place in their sights. “We started the game in the right manner and with a good tempo,” he said. “The only disappointment was that we never put away all our chances. It is our third clean sheet in a row and third win and we have got to keep it going now. We are delighted to keep moving up the table and our aim has to be now to get into the top six.”

Gretna have put their faith, rather bizarrely, on a bunch of younger loan players from clubs in England. Their team needed time to gel and it wasn’t helped by the loss of a second-minute goal to Velicka, after he had missed an even better chance earlier, or the sending off for two bookings of Danny Hall.

They can take consolation from Kilmarnock’s defeat, which means the gap to the second-bottom side is still nine points, and also from the performance of the shaggy-haired Everton kid, John Paul Kissock, who was easily Gretna’s best player.

Kissock certainly hasn’t given up the fight for survival. “I believe that we can survive. The gap is only nine points and we have some excellent players and a really good manager,” he stressed. “All the pressure is on Kilmarnock. I had to make a quick decision to come here - in fact, it was just 20 minutes. I didn’t know they were bottom or anything, but that just adds to the challenge. At Everton, I am not really close to the first team and the manager, David Moyes, told me it would be a great experience for me.

“There are some great players at Everton and I also had huge respect for James McFadden, who is a Scot-land hero. He was always encouraging me in training and putting his arm around me. I am looking forward to playing in a great league.”

The disappointed Gretna manager, Davie Irons, said: “We have got a new, young side and their early goal didn’t allow us to gel. We kept going though, and it is important from our point of view that things are as they were at the bottom. As long as there is another team in our sights, we won’t give up.”

Heart of Midlothian (4-4-2): S Banks 7 – R Neilson 6, C Berra 6, C Karapidis 7, J Goncalves 5 – D Cesnauskis 7, M Stewart 7 (sub: N McCann, 83min), R Palazuelos 7, A Driver 7 – A Ksanavicius 7 (sub: C Elliot, 77), A Velicka. Substitutes not used: A Basso, L Wallace, M Zaliukas, R Beniusis.

Gretna (442): G Fleming 6 – D Hall 5, A Collin 6 (sub: C Barr, 23 5), C Innes 6, K Naughton 6 – R Griffiths 5 (sub: R Meynell, 60 4), P Murray 5 (sub: B Wilkinson, 77), G Skelton 6, M Buscher 5 – K Deuchar 5, J P Kissock 7. Substitutes not used: A Krysiak, B McGill, N Deverdics, H Makinwa. Booked: Hall, Meynell, Naughton. Sent off: Hall.

Goalscorers: Hearts: Velicka 3, 42 (pen)

Referee C Richmond

Attendance 16,138

Taken from timesonline.co.uk