Elliot dances to the fans’ tune

Calum Elliot hasn't always been the darling of the Hearts support. "There were times when I didn't even want to go out there," he once said of a period during which even his appearance as a substitute would send boos ringing round Tynecastle.

The relationship between the player and his team's fans deteriorated so badly, in fact, that Elliot decided he wanted out of Gorgie even before Csaba Laszlo was appointed. No-one, Laszlo included, was particularly keen to dissuade him. Yet on Saturday, all was forgiven as the striker, the fickle fans and the sceptical manager were united in an unlikely love-in.

When Elliot earned a second-half penalty that could have completed a deserved hat trick, a chant of "We want Calum" thundered through the stands. It was if he had been their idol for years. The 22-year-old pointed to his chest, signalling he was ready to respond, but this was Laszlo's moment to step forward as an unrepentant Scrooge.

"We are not here for a Christmas market," he said afterwards, explaining his insistence that Bruno Aguiar, who struck the post, take responsibility. "We have two or three players who take penalties in training and their confidence is there. My gift to Calum was not to give him the penalty, but to bring him off before the end so he could enjoy the applause of the people."

And what an ovation it was. Laszlo is clearly aware of the treatment Elliot was subjected to prior to his arrival, and may even have felt that the most pleasing aspect of an excellent day's work was the healing of the striker's relationship with the home support.

With the player himself also expressing a readiness to forgive and forget, Elliot's return and re-emergence following a prolific loan spell at Livingston offers Laszlo fresh tactical options. At the very least, Christian Nade will no longer enjoy the comfort zone that has allowed him to take 28 games to amass the same number of league goals his rival scored in seven minutes.

More intriguingly, although Laszlo has developed a reputation for sticking steadfastly to a system that employs only one orthodox striker, he suggested on Saturday that the rehabilitation of Elliot and return from injury of Mike Tullberg will lead to some experimentation with 4-4-2. Any dabbling is likely to wait until after Saturday's visit of Celtic. With Hearts' advantage over Aberdeen and Dundee United having widened to seven points, there is no need for unnecessary risks.

The victory that strengthened their grip on third place was thoroughly merited, although Laszlo was justified in grumbling about the "gift" that ensured they had to come from behind to claim it. His defence was guilty of both affording Mehdi Taouil time and space to measure a deep, inviting cross from the left, then of failing to match Danny Invincible's leap to meet and bullet the ball home.

This eighth-minute opener, which came against the run of play, sparked a chant of "We are staying up" from the visiting fans, but later - having been leapfrogged by Inverness Caledonian Thistle - even Jim Jefferies admitted that survival is far from assured. "We have been in a precarious position for the past few weeks now," he said. "Next week's game against Falkirk is massive."

Jefferies was gracious enough to concede that Hearts deserved their win, but still found time to dispute the free-kick that led to Elliot nipping in on a rebound to poke home the equaliser. There was nothing but praise, however, for the stylish manner in which the striker doubled his tally seven minutes later, with Alan Combe left helpless by a brilliantly executed volley, sent crashing home with the outside of Elliot's right boot.

Aguiar, Hearts' joint-top scorer, later secured the points with a close-range drive following yet more intelligent play from the fans' new hero, who departed in the dying minutes to rapturous applause, the reconciliation with his former critics complete.

Taken from the Herald