Hearts shrug off recent failings and show ability worthy of top-six place

Hearts 3
Karipidis (21)
Elliot (33, 47)
THE more shocks you get, the more numb you become. Hearts have had their failings this season, but they have at least acquired the positive aspect of not dwelling on heavy defeats.

After losing 4-0 at home to Rangers in midweek, they were expected to travel with some trepidation to Inverness. Instead, they turned in one of their most self-assured showings of the season, and as a result are now just one point out of the top six, with four games to go.

The frustrating – and indeed baffling – aspect of this ability to bounce back so quickly is that it proves the quality is there. This therefore begs the question why they have played so badly so many times.

The quality of the opposition should be taken into account when comparing Saturday's match with Wednesday's, and certainly Rangers played at a level way above what Caley Thistle could manage. But although that difference affected the result, it does not explain the disparity in Hearts' own standard of play.

Nothing does, really, other than some seam of self-doubt lurking deep within the team's make-up. It is a flaw which Stephen Frail, the Tynecastle club's caretaker manager, has yet to iron out; one which, if it rises to the surface again, could yet derail their bid to get back into the upper half of the SPL before the split.

Given their league form overall since Frail took over, however, and given too their remaining fixtures, Hearts should make it. They have taken more points from their last half-dozen matches than anyone except the Old Firm and Hibs, and are faring considerably better than their rivals for sixth: Falkirk have earned five points from their last six, Caley Thistle two, Aberdeen just the one.

St Mirren, second bottom but with two games in hand, might yet come into the reckoning, but Frail's team could kill off their lingering hopes by beating them in their next league fixture on Saturday week.

Hearts then play Falkirk, Dundee United and Kilmarnock, which, while nothing will be taken for granted, is not the toughest run of games.

Everything still depends on the club's collective morale, of course, and in that regard it will be interesting to see how the Jose Goncalves affair develops. The defender was punished for his petulant reaction to being substituted against Rangers by being omitted from the squad for the Inverness game, and he was seen at Edinburgh Airport on Saturday morning apparently preparing to board a flight to his native Portugal. Frail expects Goncalves to report back for duty this morning, and said he had no longer-term problem with the player.

If the left-back does return late, however, Frail will surely not hesitate to make an example of him. Goncalves is far from indispensable, and is not the type to inspire his colleagues with his positive spirit. It would be no bad thing, then, if he were made an example of, pour encourager les autres.

Lee Wallace came in for Goncalves, with Andrew Driver ahead of him on the left flank, and most of Hearts' initial inroads were made down that side. The striker Christian Nade, however, was doing the most to discomfit Inverness, and it was from a shot of his which Michael Fraser turned round for a corner that Hearts took the lead.

Driver's delivery of the dead ball was expertly directed towards the head of Christos Karipidis, but a more alert defence would at least have challenged the Greek. Instead, he was left alone to head home from eight yards.

Having been the indirect begetter of that goal, Nade opted for a more orthodox assist for the second. Picking up a pass down the right from Saulius Mikoliunas, he eluded Grant Munro and Phil McGuire with his close footwork, then cut a pass back to Calum Elliot as Russell Duncan tried to intervene. Elliot calmly shot first time, and found the net low to the right.

If Marius Niculae had scored with either of a couple of good c
hances just before half-time the match might have been thrown back into that mythical melting pot. But after the Romanian twice sent the ball over Steve Banks' crossbar, the home side knew their last real opportunity to get back into contention was to make a convincing start to the second period.

Craig Brewster made his intentions clear by putting Dennis Wyness on for Markus Paatelainen, but before the substitute striker could even attempt to make an impact Hearts killed off the contest with their third goal. A pass back from Ian Black provoked panic in the home defence, and when the ball broke back to Elliot, he curled the ball back over Fraser's head and into the unguarded net.

Caley Thistle had nothing to offer after that, and this time it was their supporters, like those of Hearts on Wednesday, who trundled homewards bemoaning one of the poorest performances of the season.

Taken from the Scotsman