More away-day blues

ONE TEAM at Tynecastle yesterday looked like highly paid professionals accustomed to their wages being paid on time. The other looked disgruntled at not being remunerated. Yet it was Hearts who resembled the former and Rangers the latter.

Despite a late surge after the home side had been reduced to ten men when Lee Wallace was sent off, Rangers generally looked lethargic. Hearts got a quick grip on the game with two early goals and fully merited their fifth win in a row.

With Rangers having gone into the game four points behind Celtic, this result was untimely. Hearts moved to an improbable seven behind Rangers despite the considerable distraction of not being paid for the second time this season.
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Whatever their feelings about that, the Hearts players didn't let it affect them on the pitch. Inspired by captain Christophe Berra, they rolled their sleeves up and turned in a confident, hard tackling, display. Berra played a big part in both Hearts goals, out-jumping Madjid Bougherra to set up the chances.

"We came out of the traps early today and that was important," said the Hearts captain. "They never really opened us up. It was mostly long balls from them."

Asked about a second non-payment, Berra replied: "We have been told we will get the wages on Monday. I'm not going to pretend it's not some sort of concern but we trust the people at the club, and the owner."

Having watched his side drop ten points on their travels, Walter Smith pointed out that set pieces had caused this latest set back. "It was a bit of struggle on the defensive side," he conceded. "We gave away too many fouls in our own half which gave Hearts the opportunity to get the ball into our area. We ended up losing two goals from that situation.

"Hearts made sure they had a very solid base. They played very much in the manner we did in a number of games last season.

"Any points we drop are concerning. It means the pressure keeps piling on ourselves in the Old Firm games but we deserve that. Normally we defend set pieces well, but we didn't today."

Barry Ferguson also bemoaned his side's slow start to the game, and the mounting number of points being dropped on the road. "We have to win every game," he said. "It's certainly not helping our title chances that we've dropped these 10 points."

Csaba Laszlo, the Hearts manager, even managed to bring the house down when asked if his wages had been paid. "I was two years in Africa and I have so much money I don't look at my account," he joked.

"Now the gap is just seven points between us and Rangers. We have been very focused in the last six weeks. The team's discipline has improved - if you have that you can beat anybody."

Hearts, with Jamie MacDonald replacing the ill Janos Balogh in goal, started far the better and deservedly went ahead in the 20th minute. Bruno Aguair, another influential figure, took a free-kick which was met with a powerful header by Berra. Allan McGregor got a hand to the ball but only succeeded in pushing it into the path of Marius Zaliukas and he bundled the ball home.

If that was good for Hearts, there was a bonus almost immediately with a very similar goal. Aguiar free-kick, Berra header, McGregor hand and this time it was Laryea Kingston who stooped down to head the ball over the line.

Hearts were completely in charge at this point, but then undid some of their good work by conceding a sloppy goal to give Rangers renewed encouragement.

Another free-kick, this time from Charlie Adam, was contested in the air by Kris Boyd and Christos Karipidis. It was the defender who got the touch on the ball and sent it against the crossbar. His attempts to retrieve the situation only compounded matters and Rangers had a foothold back into the game.

On many other days being gifted a goal like that would spell only trouble for the opposition, but Hearts refused to buckle and continued to play confidently.

Kingston missed a great chance to restore the two-goal advantage when, following a neat exchange of passes with Aguiar he couldn't get a strong enough touch on the ball to steer it past McGregor.

At the other end McDonald, who had been posted missing at the Rangers goal, had to punch away a Pedro Mendes free-kick but Hearts ended the half with a well-justified lead.

When play resumed McGregor made a good save from a low Kingston shot, and Rangers tried to change the pattern of things by bringing Chris Burke on for his first game of the season, replacing Charlie Adam.

The substitution was to have an impact on the game, but not the expected one.

Burke, as you would expect from a player coming back from such a long lay off, didn't set up many opportunities for his strikers from open play but his presence caused Wallace to first obstruct him and then trip him from behind.

Referee Dougie McDonald rewarded both challenges with yellow cards and so the left-back found himself needlessly sent off.

It seemed, like the own goal, to be exactly the kind of boost Rangers needed, but although they swarmed around the Hearts area for most of the remaining 15 minutes, Boyd and Kirk Broadfoot squandered clear-cut chances.

Hearts substitutes: Jonsson for Kingston 63. Cesnauskis for Aguiar 81, Obua for Nade 84 Not used: Kello, Makela, Mole, Thomson Booked: Wallace 71, 75 Sent off: Wallace 75 Rangers substitutes: Burke for Adam 55, Novo for Darcheville 71 Not used: Alexander, Edu, McCulloch, Niguez, Loy Booked: Bougherra 22, Boyd 44

Referee: D McDonald Att: 15,702

Taken from the Sunday Herald