Aberdeen 0 - 1 Hearts: Hearts head over heels

Published Date: 28 February 2010
By Paul Forsyth
Jonsson 64
JIM Jefferies had every reason to be out on the pitch at full-time, hugging and high-fiving his players. He was surely fearing the worst after 54 minutes of this one, having lost two defenders to injury, and substitute Laryea Kingston to a red card, but the ten survivors didn't so much hold their own as thrive on the adversity. Eggert Jonsson's spectacular goal, a perfectly-timed overhead kick, earned Hearts their third consecutive victory.

The odds were against Jefferies' team from the moment centre-halves Dawid Kucharski and Marius Zaliukas trooped off either side of half-time, suffering from groin and hamstring injuries respectively. There was even a spell when they were down to nine men, when Lee Wallace took a head knock. The full-back, deputising in the middle, should have left to have stitches inserted, but resolved instead to wrap a bandage round the wound and battle on.

"I've never made so many changes in a football match, so to come through it with three points is fantastic," said Jefferies, who admitted that he had told his players at half-time to abandon all attempts at playing football, so difficult were the conditions. On a threadbare, sandy pitch, in the teeth of a bitter swirling wind, it had been a desperate first half, and if it hadn't been for Jonsson's goal, the second wouldn't have been much better.

Kingston, who had replaced Kucharski a minute before the interval, was sent off for a high challenge on Fraser Fyvie seven minutes after it. There have been too many red cards for Hearts this season, but Jefferies, who has written up a code of conduct to improve his players' discipline, refused to be critical of the offender, who was also dismissed at Pittodrie in 2007. "My first reaction was that he would have been unlucky to get a booking, never mind a sending off," said the manager.

Aberdeen's failure to take advantage means that they are now eight games without a win, although McGhee said he was less worried by that than he was by three straight defeats. Now eight points behind Hearts, he even uttered the "r" word afterwards. "Nothing I saw today would make me think we are going to make the top six," he said. "We have to batten down the hatches and make sure that we are not in a relegation fight. We are not in it yet, but if we were to lose the next two games, we would be in a situation where we are closer than we would hope."

McGhee insists that he has not lost the dressing room, but Aberdeen's players cannot be enjoying his repeated criticism of them, the latest instalment of which was printed in yesterday's match programme. The manager used his "from the dugout" column to remind supporters that his brief had been to make changes at Pittodrie, and he would do that when circumstances permitted. "This process is affected by transfer windows and finances," he wrote. "There was a time when managers, unhappy with certain players, could change them any time in the season. Not now."

The impression is that, until the end of the season at least, McGhee is resigned to making the best of a bad lot. "I will make minor compromises to the way I work while I have players who have a certain mentality. But players will change or they will be changed, it's their choice."

Yesterday, there was no sign of a transformation in what was a depressing spectacle, even for the neutral. Those who were watching the lunchtime kick-off on ESPN wouldn't agree, but they were the lucky ones. At least they could change the channels, which they probably did after seeing just a couple of vaguely threatening efforts in the entire 45 minutes. Charlie Mulgrew's free kick drifted by the post and Ricky Foster slammed a shot into the sidenet.

Hearts matches tend to need either a goal or a red card, and the latter was what changed this one. As Kingston headed for the tunnel, applauding the travelling support as he went, Jefferies was busily getting to grips with a radical reorganisation. Paul Mulrooney came on for Zaliukas, and Jamie Mole replaced Arvydas Novikovas, the upshot of which was a defensive line-up in which Jonsson partnered Wallace, and David Obua switched to left-back.

With Sone Aluko flung on for Paul Marshall, the expectation was that Aberdeen would stretch their opponents, but it didn't work out that way. Within a few minutes, the side who were a man up found themselves a goal down. But what a goal. Jonsson had his back to goal when Calum Elliot's shot ballooned up off Mulgrew, but the Icelander kept his eye on the ball as it dropped. Falling backwards, without a marker to trouble him, he hooked a bicycle kick into the bottom left-hand corner. Not bad for a lad who was supposed to be elsewhere. "We told him to sit a bit, then he's playing centre half, then you find him in the box," laughed Jefferies. "He is a hard man to pin down. He is so enthusiastic. He tries to do everybody's job."

MAN OF THE MATCH

Eggert Jonsson started in midfeld, moved to centre-half, then popped up with the game's saving grace, an overhead kick that found the bottom corner.

QUICK FACT

Aberdeen have gone eight games without a win, three without even managing a draw. Their last victory was against Hearts on 27 January.

TALKING POINT

Laryea Kingston had been on the field for only seven minutes when he was sent off for a high challenge on Fraser Fyvie. Not the way to win back his critics in the Hearts support.

Taken from the Scotsman