Glen hits winner for Hearts to sink Inverness

By BARRY ANDERSON
Hearts 1 - 0 Inverness
TRUDGING towards the dugout after being substituted on Saturday, Gary Glen was embraced with a particularly emotional and affectionate hug from Stephen Frail.
The interim manager had just introduced Scott Robinson as the youngest ever Hearts player in the knowledge that his youth academy products were delivering. Glen's winning goal had only reinforced the point.

Nine of Hearts' 18-man matchday squad against Inverness passed through the club's own development programme, statistics to warm the cockles of any supporter disillusioned at seeing their team inhabiting the bottom six for the first time. Vladimir Romanov, the majority shareholder, recently introduced a policy of financial prudence due to £36million debts and promoting youth has been given new priority.

Inverness enjoyed periods of dominance at the weekend, particularly prior to the interval when a more instinctive striker than Dennis Wyness or Marius Niculae might have been able to convert one of several scoring chances. But introducing academy players is Hearts' way of compensating for previous financial profligacy, and the teenagers of Tynecastle didn't squander their chance.

Glen's goal was the finishing work of a master craftsman, coming just seven days after his first top-team strike against St Mirren. The forward clinically clipped the ball over the advancing Inverness goalkeeper, Michael Fraser, after an assist from the commanding Ruben Palazuelos. With only ten minutes to play, the celebrations around Tynecastle were conducted as much in relief as anything else.

Robinson replaced Glen in stoppage time to become the youngest player ever to represent Hearts competitively at 16 years, one month and 14 days. He managed one solitary touch but left the stadium bearing a cheesy grin that would have done justice to his Neighbours namesake.

In that regard, the often-criticised Frail is worthy of unreserved praise. As are the two Murrays, John and Darren, Hearts' academy director and under-19s coach respectively. Nourishing kids on the training grounds of Riccarton is one thing, knowing when to expose them to the unforgiving SPL environment is quite another. Recent injuries to Christian Nade and Jamie Mole created voids but filling them has been a rewarding experience for the coaching staff.

As youngsters thrive in less intense surroundings of the bottom six, the message is that the academy conveyor belt is backed up with more prodigious talent. Half of Saturday's squad were home grown – captain Christophe Berra, Jason Thomson, Eggert Jonsson, Glen, Calum Elliot, Mark Ridgers, Robinson, Lee Wallace and Matej Rapnik, the Slovenia Under-17 captain who is tipped as a future defensive mainstay of the first team.

"I had a very young side out there and I thought that in large chunks they played some really nice football," said Frail. "I thought for 30-40 minutes of the first half they played really well. I didn't think the goal was going to come but they kept at it and limited Inverness to only one real chance, so overall I was very impressed.

"So many in that team have all come through the youth system. When you look at the future with players like Christophe Berra, Jose Goncalves and Palazuelos still very young, overall I think it looks pretty bright. Although Gary scored the goal I think he showed more of his ability as a good player on Saturday. He's very clever and can bring other players into the game. I think the longer the game went on you could see him getting better."

On Robinson, he added: "I know Scott and I've seen him train but Darren (Murray] knows him better. He said, 'put him on the bench, he won't let you down'. I thought about it and thought 'why not?' I would like to have been a bit more comfortable to have given him a bit more time but I am glad he got on. He got the touch, and we've got one happy 16-year-old now. It's maybe a bit early but injuries to our other strikers have given him his chance. Scott's our youngest ever player and that's something that will stick with him for a while."

Marius Zaliukas replaced Elliot three minutes before the deadlock was broken, a move not well received by Tynecastle natives. The Lithuanian took up an unorthodox role in attack alongside Glen and instigated the move which brought the goal. "Inverness are a physical side and Calum won his fair share of headers but I just thought maybe Marius could give us that extra touch to get Gary in," explained the caretaker manager.

"I could hear the rumblings when I put him on because the fans think it is a defender for a striker, but whether or not I am vindicated or not, who knows? I am just delighted that he played a part in the goal with his pass into Palazuelos. Marius has looked very good in training. He scored a few cracking goals with his head. I know he is a threat. The biggest thing was to get flicks-ons in the air for young Gary and the two wider players.

"He went on, contributed in an area where I am shouting for him to get into the box. He was in a deeper position and played a pass from there."

Craig Brewster, the Inverness manager, was disappointed his side failed to consolidate after the interval having ended the first half strongest. Hearts were impressive in spells without delivering a vintage performance, something Brewster hoped to capitalise on. "Second half we didn't really assert ourselves at all and couldn't keep the ball," he said.

"I think most people thought it was a nil-nil but credit to Hearts, Glen played a one-two and finished well."

Like his Hearts counterpart Frail, Brewster stressed his players' pride remains at stake during their bottom-six programme. "Players have always got pride to play for.

Some people think it's an end of season game. It's still points to be had." The player-manager might have felt slightly unfortunate returning to the Highlands with no reward, but Hearts were entitled to rejoice at their kids' coming of age during these end-of-season first-team auditions.

Taken from the Scotsman