Hearts 1-2 Hamilton: Jambos go further into the red

Published Date: 07 December 2009
By BARRY ANDERSON
HEARTS certainly don't have their troubles to seek. Without several influential players through injury and fighting to haul themselves away from the lower echelons of the Scottish Premier League, they now have a raft of suspensions and SFA sanctions to contend with after yesterday's scenes at Hamilton.
The post-match fracas at New Douglas Park will cost the Tynecastle club £10,000, plus any additional appeal fees. In total, four players and the team masseur were ordered off on the day, along with Hamilton's Leon Knight. Michael Stewart and Ismael Bouzid were dismissed during the match, Suso and Ian Black were reported for their part in the tunnel melee along with masseur Alan Robson. Their offences were deemed the equivalent of red cards while Eggert Jonsson was cautioned.

Hearts incurred a £50,000 SFA fine for last season's indiscipline with a further £10,000 penalty suspended until January. Yesterday's events mean it is only a matter of time until the delayed punishment is invoked with the Hampden hierarchy promising a full investigation.

Csaba Laszlo's side remain in the SPL's bottom six and are badly missing the impetus of injured players like Andy Driver and Marius Zaliukas. Larry Kingston, on the evidence of his last two displays, does not have the stomach for the fight. He is not alone. Others, regrettably, can be a little too aggressive. Although yesterday their anger, while not quite channelled properly, was understandable to a degree.

Referee David Somers lost control of the match and contributed significantly to the post-match disorder. In second-half stoppage time, he denied Hearts a blatant penalty and the chance to equalise when Hamilton's David Elebert bundled Calum Elliot to the ground. Somers was less than exemplary beforehand after dismissing Stewart and Bouzid for offences that, with the application of common sense, merited little more than a telling off.

Stewart responded angrily to a late tackle by his opposing captain Alex Neil on 48 minutes, but what he did to deserve a straight red card is baffling. His aggressive reaction certainly did not help his cause but that alone is not worthy of dismissal. Bouzid walked on 81 minutes for two bookable offences after fouling James McArthur and James Wesolowski. He committed only three fouls all afternoon and was cautioned for two of them. Somers also booked Craig Thomson for one of the best tackles you will see all season.

The sense of injustice spilled over as both teams headed for the dressing-rooms at full-time. Knight reacted angrily to some verbals and lashed out at Suso, who retaliated in the same vein. Within seconds, there were "easily 15 people" involved, according to one witness. Christian Nade was seen being restrained by four people, but perhaps most amusing of all was referee Somers standing at the back blowing his whistle frantically in a poor effort at stopping the commotion.

The entire incident was watched by Richard Simpson, head of administration at the SFA. Somers has reported Knight – an unused substitute – and Suso for violent conduct, Black and Robson for foul and abusive language and Jonsson for verbal dissent.

"I don't like to talk about referees and their decisions but, in the last couple of weeks, Mark McGhee, Craig Levein and Jim Gannon have spoken in the media about this," said Laszlo. "The game was on TV, I don't think I must comment on something that was possible to see. Michael Stewart's was not a red card if you saw the picture. If you talk with Hamilton or anybody, they say this is not a red card. I will try to appeal, even Michael Stewart's red card. But you cannot appeal the penalty.

"He (the referee] must not tell me his decision. If he makes a decision I can't change it, but we are in professional football and we need professional people who make decisions and then they can respond. I don't like to comment on any decisions from these guys. It is enough punishment for every manager and player if they had the possibility and tried everything to get a point but did not get it. We must talk about the positive and negative issues. We are sportsmen and I don't like to talk through the media about anything I cannot change."

Asked about the post-match ruction, Laszlo continued: "I don't know what happened so I cannot accuse anyone. I came between people and I tried to push players away and then came the referee and it was finished. You are always upset if something happens and your player is involved. This is negative. But you must think that players are humans and, for 95 minutes, they tried to get the best out of the game. To defend my players, the adrenalin was somewhere over their heads. Maybe a word of provocation can bring an explosion."

Laszlo, it must be said, also contributed to Hearts' downfall in a footballing sense. A 4-1-4-1 starting formation with Jonsson anchoring midfield and Nade up front alone was all too negative. By the time he realised, his side were 2-0 down. The outstanding McArthur slid a pass to striker Mickael Antoine-Curier on five minutes, his shot rebounded off the post for McArthur to slot high into the Hearts net. On 24 minutes, the unmarked Simon Mensing controlled and converted Wesolowski's cross without a single maroon jersey in attendance.

Hearts' disarray at that stage was summed up by David Obua emerging from the substitutes' bench to enter the fray wearing No.18 and the name Novikovas on his shirt. After a quick change, he replaced the ineffective Dawid Kucharski with Jonsson reverting from holding midfield to centre-back. The visitors looked instantly more comfortable and Jonsson started and finished the move which brought them back into contention on 39 minutes.

Jamie MacDonald replaced the injured Janos Balogh for the second half but Hearts' attempts at an equaliser were severely handicapped when Stewart was ordered off. This began a chain of events which left referee Somers the focus of everyone's attention. Hamilton made good use of the extra-man advantage and played some fine football throughout the entire afternoon. MacDonald was required on several occasions to show his athleticism and keep his side in the match.

"Even with nine men we tried," said Laszlo. "Elliot was fouled outside once when he was one against one and he got nothing. One minute later, it was the same situation. I saw the pictures and I can tell only what everybody saw. It was a clear penalty. I must compliment the team. With nine men they tried to be in the game and to get one point. This is okay, it was not their decision not to get a point with nine players."

MacDonald reiterated Laszlo's comments and said he believed Hearts had been awarded a foul when Stewart was dismissed.

"I didn't think there was much in it, to be honest. I thought it was a foul to us, I didn't think he was sending him off. Two bookings for Ismael, again it's soft. If you're going to lunge in you will get a yellow sometimes.

"I thought it could have been a penalty. Calum felt it was a penalty himself and he's disappointed. I thought he'd got goal side of the boy and was brought down. We're disappointed because, except for the first 20 minutes, we actually played pretty well. Hamilton were panicked a little even with ten men and nine men. We're disappointed we didn't get a point."

Billy Reid, the Hamilton manager, admitted to a degree of sympathy for Laszlo but remained unperturbed by the violent scenes at full-time. "I've seen aftermath like that a lot in Scotland," he said. "It shouldn't happen but we're passionate guys and whatever happens, happens. He (Laszlo] is a passionate guy. He feels everything went against him.

"My heart was in my mouth every time we went up the park and didn't score. Every time Hearts break there's a chance of them nicking something. Their substitution gave them fresh impetus and David Obua was a big problem for us. I can't influence the sending offs, though."

On the penalty, he added: "It's a clash of bodies and I haven't seen it on the monitor. Last time we played Hearts we were undone by a penalty decision that went against us. Over the 90 minutes, I don't think there's any doubt we were the better side. I thought we had plenty chances and plenty shots on goal. We didn't take them and that made it a bit more nervous for us."

Taken from the Scotsman