Motherwell 0-1 Hearts

Feb 25 2008 David McCarthy At Fir Park

THEY sat in the back row of the main stand, two mad Slovaks wearing Motherwell scarves like bandanas and yelping and screaming like men possessed.

Which seemed odd because if ever there was a match with nothing to shout about, this was it.

Turned out the two tourists, who had decided to become Motherwell fans for reasons that remain a mystery, had been swigging at a bottle of vodka hidden in one of their rucksacks before it was commandeered by a steward midway through the second half.

Put it this way, they weren't exactly Rock Steady on their feet.

But maybe they weren't so mad after all, because the only way anyone could possibly have enjoyed the fare on offer at Fir Park was to get absolutely mortal. And those two did.

It's just a pity they didn't hand out the bevvy to those around them because we could all have used it to keep out the biting wind and to numb our senses from what Motherwell and Hearts were torturing us with out on something that once resembled a football pitch.

And that was the problem. It's bad enough having to play football on a surface that looked like a ploughed field but when the treacherous conditions underfoot are mixed with the elements we got overhead on Saturday, it's a recipe for disaster.

If matches can be postponed for waterlogged or frozen pitches, then why not when the wind gusts so fiercely the players look like they are chasing a small beach ball?

This was blow football for grown-ups and it made for a horrible spectacle.

It was easy to feel sorry for the players - at one stage Hearts keeper Steve Banks needed Christophe Berra to hold the ball still as he hoofed a free-kick up the park, in much the same manner as rugby players used to help the kicker take conversion attempts.

But the real sympathy lay with the paying public, who forked out as much as £26 to get no value whatsoever in return.

While the Hearts fans would have left happy enough with the points, even they would have conceded this was no way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

That they did go home with smiles on their faces was due to two lucky breaks they got at both ends of the pitch in the same move after 10 minutes.

Motherwell, attacking the Hearts goal, saw David Clarkson crack heads with Jose Goncalves on the edge of the Jambos box.

The home player went down as if poleaxed and 99 times out of 100 the referee would have stopped the game to examine a head injury.

This was the one time out of that 100 when he didn't. Craig Thomson even ran over and patted the prostrate Clarkson on the back and allowed play to rage on up the park.

With the Motherwell fans and management team screaming for play to be stopped, Hearts played to the whistle.

And as they reached the edge of the Lanarkshire side's penalty box, Christian Nade used the top of his arm to control the ball before it was finally shuttled wide right to Eggert Jonsson, who cut inside and hit a shot from 20 yards.

Who knows where it would have ended had it not struck Stephen Craigan and soared viciously into the air high beyond the flailing arms of Graeme Smith. The keeper was left with no chance as the ball smacked the roof of the net.

Motherwell were furious and they had every right to be.

Thomson's decision to wave play on was inexplicable as Clarkson was clearly injured. This very ground that has been visited by tragedy already this season and surely the right thing would have been to make sure the boy was all right.

Clarkson wasn't seriously hurt but the bang he took to his left eye was sufficient to force him out of the match after 29 minutes, another factor that made a mockery of the referee's refusal to allow him to be treated at the time of the incident.

Hearts deserved to win. By the time the controversial winner had been struck, the pattern of the match had been established. Hearts with the gale at their back were dominating without looking like world beaters.

Stevie Frail had packed his team with big, strong lads to plough through the heavy pitch and up front Calum Elliot and Nade were giving the Motherwell defence more trouble than Berra and Cristos Karapidis were getting at the other end.

But even after turning around at the break, Motherwell were unable to use the elements to their advantage. Overhit passes were the order of a frustrating afternoon and it was only in the last 10 minutes, when Hearts sat in defending what they had, that Mark McGhee's side finally got to grips with the conditions.

Ross McCormack began to exert an influence but he and his mates found keeper Banks in unbeatable form and they didn't really look like a side that believed they could take something.

Motherwell have enjoyed a marvellous season but their flowing, free-passing football can't be played on their chewedup, patchwork-quilt of a pitch.

If, come the end of the season, all their good work is undone because they can't use their passing and moving style in home games, resulting in them missing out on European football, then the decision to allow Gretna to groundshare will have been the wrong one, even if the cash has been useful.

Hearts, on the other hand, are on the march after being second bottom at one point.

Frail has made them resilient and even if they were to lose top scorer Andrius Velicka, who missed the match through injury but is the subject of interest from Viking Stavanger, the partnership of Nade and Elliot shows enough promise to suggest they can continue to move in the right direction.

But if Frail can hang on to the Lithuanian, they'll have a much better chance of gatecrashing the top six. If they do that, the caretaker manager's chances of getting the job on a permanent basis must surely increase.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Christian Nade (Hearts)

MATCH STATS

MOTHERWELL v HEARTS

53 POSSESSION % 47

4 SHOTS ON TARGET 2

4 SHOTS OFF TARGET 5

4 CORNERS 5

12 FOULS CONCEDED 15

2 OFFSIDES 4

MOTHERWELL

MAN BY MAN

Graeme Smith: Beaten all ends up by deflected goal but otherwise coped well with the difficult conditions. 6

Paul Quinn: Worked overtime trying to contain Wallace. 6

Stephen Craigan: Unlucky with the own goal, otherwise played well. 7

Mark Reynolds: Adifficult afternoon but youngster didn't let his team down. 6

Steve Hammell: Used the ball better than most. One of side's top performers. 7

Stephen Hughes: Windy conditions and horrendous pitch worked against him. 5

Keith Lasley: Neat, tidy, energetic and passed the ball well on terrible surface. 7

Marc Fitzpatrick: No faulting his effort. 6

David Clarkson: Started brightly but subbed after a head knock. 4

Chris Porter: Got no change out of Berra and Karipidis. 5

Ross McCormack: Didn't get going until very late in the game. 6

Subs: Simon Lappin - replaced Clarkson but made limited impact, 5. Darren Smith - livened up the attack by adding width, 5. Jamie Murphy - on with eight minutes left, 3.

HEARTS

MAN BY MAN

Steve Banks: Redundant until last 10 minutes when he had several good stops. 7

Robbie Neilson: Good performance - hardly missed a tackle all game. 7

Christos Karipidis: Kept it simple and shackled the home strikeforce. 7

Christophe Berra: An inspiration again. 7

Jose Goncalves: Did well. 6

Eggert Jonsson:His shot led to the goal and he provided team with dig and drive. 6

Ruben Palazuelos: A fine display. Seemed to revel in the conditions. 7

Lee Wallace: Proved he could have a future as a left-sided midfielder if his final ball improves. 7

Deividas Cesnauskis: Not one of his better days. 5

Calum Elliot: Played well and formed a good partnership with Nade. 7

Christian Nade: Quick, muscular presence and showed great feet at times. 8

Subs: Saulius Mikoliunas - couldn't get going on sticky pitch, 4. Ricardas Beniusis - given last eight minutes. 2. Marius Zaliukas - replaced Elliot with a couple of minutes left, 1.

MAGIC MOMENT

The final blast of Craig Thomson's whistle meant we could all go home.

Taken from the Daily Record