Hamilton Academical 2 Hearts 0

Feb 2 2009 Colin Duncan

FIVE minutes on the clock and Alex Neil clatters into Bruno Aguiar.

The Hearts midfielder screams like a banshee so moments later Neil dishes out exactly the same treatment.

His challenge meets with another pitiful response and Hamilton quickly realise the Edinburgh outfit don't like it up them.

Neil's abrasive approach set the tone for adeserved victory as Billy Reid's men went joint seventh in the SPL after their fifth consecutive home victory.

James McCarthy continued to prove he can live up to all the hype with another terrific display and Simon Mensing chipped in with two precious goals either side of half-time.

But it was the guts and determination of the outstanding Neil, who snapped at Aguiar's heels like a terrier every time the Portuguese touched the ball, who highlighted the difference between the sides.

Assigned a man-marking role, the veteran carried it out with such aplomb the Hearts playmaker was a forlorn and frustrated figure as he was hauled off on the hour mark.

Aguiar's display mirrored that of a toothless Hearts side who showed once again that when the going gets tough far too many of them quickly hoist up the white flag of surrender.

Their performance must have made uncomfortable viewing for club owner Vladimir Romanov, who watched the game after flying in from Lithuania 24 hours earlier.

Before the match Romanov tried to pull the wool over the fans' eyes, ridiculously claiming Hearts are a stronger team without Christophe Berra, who was off-loaded to Wolves on the morning of the match.

Hamilton quickly made a mockery of that assertion, exposing weaknesses in the Jambos rearguard and ending a run of 19 straight defeats at the hands of the Tynecastle outfit.

Neil said: "Depending on who we are playing against the gaffer changes his tactics and it has worked in recent weeks.

"He thought Aguiar was the danger and told me to try to stay close to him and stop him having an effect on the game.

"When I caught him, I just went for the ball but when I turned round he was on the ground.I think I caught him twice but it wasn't meant.

"It's was good for me to see him getting agitated because I knew his focus was off the game and that's when we started to put pressure on them.

"He's a talented player but if people don't fancy it when they come here then they are going to have problems.

"It was good to see him going off because you know you have done your job properly. The gaffer always tells us that if we win our individual battles then we will win the game.

"I don't think it's a negative way to play because when we get the ball we try to play good football. When the opposition have it we are in their face.

"At the start of the season we were too open and other teams were carving us up.

Now we are not as pretty to watch but we are getting the results."

While Aguiar was off under false pretences receiving treatment for what was nothing more than a playful brush, Hamilton took the lead in 12 minutes when Mensing headed in a Brian Easton cross.

The midfielder doubled the home side's lead at the start of the second half, slotting in a penalty after McCarthy suckered Robbie Neilson into a rash challenge.

But Neil admits the pre-match news of Berra's departure handed Hamilton a massive psychological edge. He said: "If we lost one of our key players it would affect us.

"We played them twice before this year and Berra did really well both times. We put them under a lot of pressure and he mopped it all up.

"We definitely took a boost when we saw he was out.We thought this was a good day to get them."

This was the first time since World War II that Hamilton had racked up four wins in a row in the top flight and as a reward Reid gave his players a Sunday off for the first time since the season kicked off in August.

Neil said: "We come in on Sundays for a warm down and get our legs ticking over.

"But after a few good results lately some of the boys were on at the gaffer as we wanted to go out for a night to relax.You can't do that if you are in the next day."

While there was much to admire about Hamilton's display, Hearts appear to be hurtling towards yet another crisis. Boss Csaba Laszlo, who had included Berra in his starting line-up, was clearly irked to see his skipper sold before before the game.

Unlike Romanov, replacement captain Robbie Neilson gave an honest, if philosophical, assessment of how his fellow Scotland international's loss will affect Hearts.

He said: "Christophe has been great for us for two years but hopefully he's moving on to better things and he can help Wolves into the Premiership.

"It does weaken us because he was our captain and mainstay of our team.

"But we have a good squad and hopefully there are other boys to come in.

"That's life in football these days. It's just acase of dealing with it now.

"It's not hard for us to start again. We are professionals and we will move on.

"Christophe has been a big part of the team but he's gone now. It's time for new people to come in and take his place.

"It was the same when Steven Pressley, Andy Webster and Paul Hartley left the club."

MAN OF THE MATCH
Alex Neil (Hamilton)

MAGIC MOMENT
Great trickery and skill from James McCarthy to win Hamilton a decisive penalty.

Taken from the Daily Record