End of Hearts' good run isn't the only worry

COLLEEN PATERSON
Aberdeen 1,
Hearts 0.

HEARTS lost their unbeaten run – and their discipline – at Pittodrie as Lee Miller's first-half strike consigned them to their first defeat in eight games.
But the repercussions of the 1-0 loss could be even more costly as red cards for Marius Zaliukas and Lee Wallace mean that the Tynecastle side will go into Saturday's crucial Edinburgh derby minus two of their main players.

Zaliukas was sent off i n the second half against Jimmy Calderwood's side as he tussled with a Dons defender off the ball as they waited for Michael Stewart to swing a corner in to the near post, while Wallace managed to play out the entire 90 minutes before being shown a straight red for using foul and abusive language towards match referee Iain Brines in the tunnel as tempers boiled over.

In the melee that had seconds earlier greeted the final whistle Robbie Neilson and Lee Miller were also booked as both sets of players clashed on their way off the pitch.

Hearts managed Csaba Laszlo did not feel that the game had merited so many cards and said: "One hundred per cent, it was not a bad game but we lost 1-0 and now we must concentrate on the next game.

"We have to think what we can do in the next game. With Zaliukas and Wallace both out, we have to look at what we have got and the best possibilities. We have some young players on the bench, Eggert Jonsson can play in defence and Christos Karipidis can also play in there.

"We must look to bounce back in this next game.

"These young guys don't play bad football, especially when we were down to ten guys, we tried to push Aberdeen but I think that there were a lot of other things happening in the game."

Skipper Christophe Berra felt that a number of decisions, not only the red and yellow cards dished out, had gone against his side, particularly for the only goal of the game.

He insisted that his challenge on Miller should never had been pulled back for a free-kick and said: "The free-kick for the goal was never a free-kick in a million years. I am a defender, I know the situation – okay, the referee has given a free-kick, that is his job and it is hard for him because he has got to make decisions in a split second. But I was just standing there with my elbows up to protect myself and I won the ball. Okay, maybe Lee has gone over but people do that to Christian and, because he is a big strong boy, he doesn't get those kinds of decisions.

"You've got to take it on the chin though, sometimes these decisions go against you and all credit to Lee because it was a good finish, he peeled off well and they got the goal. But it was never a free-kick."

Despite his obvious frustration at the way the game and the refereeing decisions had panned out though, Berra refused to publicly criticise whistler Iain Brines and chose instead to focus his attentions on this Saturday's crucial SPL clash with Hibs at Tynecastle and added: "I will be honest, there is so much that I want to say but I can't. Everyone can see what happened and can tell for themselves. Okay, you can be biased but, if you're a neutral or you play football, then you can tell. That's football though and we have just got to deal with it.

"If we had kept eleven players on the field then we might have been able to squeeze a goal but I don't think that we played to our best.

"We've got to pick ourselves up now and there is no better way to bounce back from this than with victory over your old rivals at Tynecastle. We've got a massive week coming up, we've got Hibs, Motherwell and Hibs again but they are all winnable games for us."

Hearts boss Laszlo made one change to the side which drew 0-0 with Dundee United last weekend, Michael Stewart on from the start after coming on to replace Bruno Aguiar against the Tannadice outfit.

Lee Mair was forced to drop to the bench for the Pittodrie side as he struggled to shake off a bout of the flu and he was replaced by Richard Foster.

The Tynecastle side had an early chance when Robbie Neilson linked up with Larry Kingston to pick out Christos Karipidis but his ball into the box – which had been aimed for Andrew Driver – was cut out before it could reach the little winger.

They were handed another opportunity when sub Andrew Considine, who had been brought on to replace the injured Charlie Mulgrew after just three minutes, stretched to keep the ball in play but as his momentum took him off the field the ball was left loose for Kingston to run on to. Fortunately for the Dons though, the midfielder's cross into the danger area was too high and heavy to have any chance of finding a Hearts attacker.

The Dons carved out the best chance of the opening stages when Jeffrey de Visscher showed good vision to head on for Darren Mackie. It looked like the home side would take the lead, only for keeper Janos Balogh to spread himself well to block Mackie's right-foot drive.

The Aberdeen striker had another go in 15 minutes, this time from further out and there was more power behind it, but again Balogh was equal to the effort and the Hearts goalie was to go on to have an impressive afternoon between the sticks.

The Dons were causing Hearts problems by utilising the chipped ball from the middle into the right-hand channel and three times Sone Aluko and De Visscher managed to cut out the Tynecastle defence.

When Gary McDonald tried to latch onto one of their passes with just under 20 minutes gone, he was brought down by Christos Karipidis and Jimmy Calderwood's men were awarded a free-kick. Aluko, who had looked impressive in the first quarter, took it but could only float the ball straight into the arms of Balogh.

Hearts came close in 25 minutes when Neilson released Stewart down the right and he stabbed the ball back to Kingston, who had run to the edge of the box. The Ghana internationalist stumbled slightly but managed to steady himself enough to turn it back into the path of Karipidis but the big Greek's shot was just wide of Jamie Langfield's goal.

At the other end De Visscher let fly with a rocket of a shot, but like Karipidis, saw his attempt fizz past the keeper's left-hand post. But the home side did get a goal with ten minutes to go until the break and it came from a free-kick, which was conceded by Berra. The dead ball was swung in by Scott Severin to Lee Miller at the far side of the box and he spun to send it curling out of Balogh's reach and into the net.

Berra was walking something of a tightrope after earlier picking up a booking but re-emerged after the break.

There was something of a change in Laszlo's second-half line-up though as he pushed Stewart further up the park to give assistance to Nade and winger Driver.

The Dons should have doubled their lead with almost an hour gone when Aluko again caused mayhem by sending a dangerous ball, low into the box for Miller but the hitman just couldn't get a touch on it to turn it into the net against his old team.

Miller had another sight of goal in 71 minutes when Severin fed the ball through to Miller and he cut away from Berra to get the shot in. It was a cracking effort but Balogh again impressed as he soared high to his left and pushed the chance away with his right hand.

Hearts won two corners in quick succession but the second one didn't turn out quite the way Hearts had hoped, Zaliukas lashing out as he tried to fight his way through to Stewart's corner and picking up his second booking of the game. Nade, who had needlessly rushed into the melee, also got himself in trouble after lifting his hands and received a yellow card for his trouble.

At the other end the Dons' claims for a penalty were waved away when Mackie took a fresh-air swipe at the ball just as Wallace came charging in to challenge him. And he too was to see red as the players went down the tunnel after the final whistle.

Taken from the Scotsman