Kilmarnock 0 - 0 Hearts

These were once two great teams. In the days of black and white football, Kilmarnock and Hearts famously tussled for a league title. Now they squabble over the most humble of ambitions.

Hearts wanted to be in the top six. Kilmarnock do not want to be the worst team in the top division apart from Gretna. It is like watching Marco Pierre White and Egon Ronay fighting over a sodden, discarded fish supper in an early morning Sauchiehall Street. Kilmarnock, at least, retain a semblance of dignity. The chill economic wind of Scottish football has not spared Rugby Park but they have a decent manager and a team that is well-organised, works hard and has hints of more than mere competence.

James Fowler, metronomic in his passing and tireless in his movement, would be an effective player in any team. Danny Invincibile runs as if he is approaching Becher's Brook with the weight of the nation's cash on him. Frazer Wright, who took one for the team in being sent off for denying Christian Nade at the end, is a throwback to the kind of centre-half who made a living when Kilmarnock last challenged for the title in 1965. There is a hint of promise in the youngsters, particularly in the the shape of Craig Bryson.
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Kilmarnock should have won this match. They spurned a series of good chances in the first half. Bryson, Invincibile and Tim Clancy could have opened the scoring and there was a decent shout for a penalty for Jose Goncalves' barge.

Hearts were a disgrace. There should be a series of questions posed at Tynecastle. The first should be: how many Hearts players does it take not to win a top-six place? Here's a clue. Gary Glen wears the No.60 shirt. There are unused numbers before that but not many.

Hearts resemble a team that has not been selected but produced as a result of vigorous press-ganging throughout the world. Saturday's crew was made up of recruits from Scotland, Lithuania, Spain, France, Senegal, Portugal, Argentina and Ghana. This, of course, is not in itself a bad thing. Chelsea have a similar make-up and are managing to keep their heads above water. Ruben Palazuelos, of Spain, looks a fine player. But it is difficult to see a pattern of recruitment or play at Tynecastle.

Hearts were abject in the first half. They made three chances in the second. A decent travelling support in the 5901 crowd watched in a surly silence that may precede more vocal interventions as this miserable season continues with clashes against Inverness and Gretna instead of another Edinburgh derby and a tilt at the Old Firm.

The headline news may well be that Hearts have lost out on five money-spinning games in the top six. Frankly, this is froth on a more bitter brew. Hearts' debts stand at more than £36m and the club would have had to change their ticket pricing somewhat radically to make a dent in this through a couple of home top-six matches.

Hearts require a gameplan on and off the park. Stevie Frail, the head coach, took an hour to travel from dressing-room to press conference. It is to be hoped that he spent some of that time advising his charges that they play for Hearts, not for a bounce team hastily assembled on a holiday beach.

The problems, though, extend further. Frail is not sure he will be chosen to take the team forward. But what is the destination? Vladimir Romanov, the owner of the club, watched the game from the stand and must have been appalled. Yet he, of course, is part of the problem. Gorgie resounds to rhetoric about new stadiums and Champions League football. Rugby Park witnessed a Hearts side of banal mediocrity.

Hearts badly need stability in management, playing personnel and strategy on and off the park. Frail remarked that his side played as if the Rugby Park encounter was a testimonial match. But how would they know? Nobody stays at Tynecastle long enough to earn a testimonial.

Taken from the Herald