Hearts 1-4 Rangers: Jefferies claims catastrophic defending gifted match to Rangers

Published Date: 29 March 2010
By BARRY ANDERSON
REFEREE Calum Murray forgot to include Steven Naismith's two goals on the SPL team sheet he submitted at full-time. When a Hearts representative approached him about the error he instantly apologised and corrected the statistics to show that Naismith's second-half strikes had put a convincing slant on this scoreline.
Perhaps Murray was attempting to do Hearts a favour by reducing the apparent magnitude of the defeat. But, in truth, the hosts ought to have helped their own cause. Their contribution to what was a slightly flattering Rangers win was anything but insignificant. Having allowed centre-back defender Danny Wilson a straightforward back-post header for the first goal, they gifted possession to Steven Davis in the lead-up to the third, and allowed Naismith to roam free for both the third and fourth.

Murray's post-match oversight typified his own shortcomings on the day, however Hearts' primary frustration was not with officials or opponents. It was with themselves. In outfield play they matched Rangers, even dominated for a period after Suso's spectacular volley equalised Wilson's opener. It was some erroneous defending which proved costly.

Marius Zaliukas left himself open to criticism although it should be noted that Saturday was the Lithuanian's first appearance after a month-long absence with hamstring trouble. Jamie MacDonald, deputising due to Janos Balogh's wrist injury, was often left too exposed in goal by some elementary mistakes.

"We got off to a bad start because we lost a goal to a set play," said Jim Jefferies, the Hearts manager, in reference to Wilson evading Ruben Palazuelos to nod Kevin Thomson's free-kick past MacDonald on four minutes. "I thought the team did great to weather it. I thought we were playing well enough to get back into it, which we did with Suso's goal. I thought we were the better side through to half-time. I spoke to David Weir afterwards and he agreed."

Suso dispatched an unstoppable volley past Allan McGregor to punish Sasa Papac for a sliced clearance, and at that point Hearts seized control. But when Zaliukas gifted possession to Steven Davis while attempting a short pass to Lee Wallace on 31 minutes, Rangers capitalised and never looked back. The Irishman's cross saw Kris Boyd cushion a header for Naismith to strike the crossbar, and Kenny Miller converted the rebound.

"We spoke before the game about the conditions, the pitches being the way they are and the ball bobbling," continued Jefferies. "You don't take chances trying to pass the ball three or four yards. Just put it in an area where we can pick up the second ball and play football from there. You just can't play too much football at the back.

"You could see from Marius's reaction that he held his hand up. He's a very good player but even at the third goal he tried to find somebody in the left-back position when, in these conditions, you should just play it forward. Whittaker got in, played it through to Naismith and maybe Jason Thomson could have been not too far in leaving a big gap for Naismith, but it was the initial mistake that cost us. We should just have put the ball in their half.

"When you are trying to be a bit clever like that, you're asking for trouble. The fourth goal was a free header. The man who was marking Naismith should have stayed with him. Another free header in the six-yard box.

"For me it wasn't a 4-1 game based on outfield play, but on mistakes, or gifts, it was 4-1 because Rangers will punish you if you make it that easy for them. There is a lot to be happy with from outfield play, but a lot to be unhappy with in terms of the silly mistakes we made. You aren't going to get away with that against Rangers, especially when they are going for the title. They are going to gobble up these chances. We beat ourselves I think."

Hearts remain in pursuit of a top-six place and would have been thankful for Hamilton's feat in defeating seventh-placed St Johnstone on Saturday. Jefferies implored his squad to ensure that maximum points are taken from the remaining two pre-split fixtures against St Mirren and Kilmarnock, thereby securing him an improved player budget for next season.

"That's the same at any football club," he said. "Budgets can be helped if you get into the top six because of position money and gate money. I would expect it to make a difference.

"We want to be playing in the bigger games financially. It didn't look like Hearts were going to be near the top six back towards the start of the season but they got a run of wins before we came in and we have managed to pick up a few since we arrived. We are still in a good position. We have two games, one home and one away, and we have to try to win them both. We are well capable of that.

"St Johnstone's game in hand is on Tuesday night against Rangers. I felt if we'd won on Saturday it would virtually have clinched the top-six place. I think Hearts are improving in terms of the way we want to play and in the first half we had a couple of half chances. We aren't complaining about the result, we're complaining about the way Rangers achieved it through a lot of errors."

Had the Rangers supporters who visited Tynecastle on Saturday ceased their sectarian bile for just a millisecond, they could have observed their team at its clinical best.

Any opportunity presented by Hearts was seized upon in ruthless fashion, according manager Walter Smith much satisfaction as he seeks to conclude yet another SPL title.

"It was a good win, an important win," he said. "You always feel Tynecastle is an awkward place to come and play and it looked that way after we got off to a good start and were pegged back. We managed to get back in front and I was delighted to consolidate in the second half. I was delighted to see the goals, a couple from set-pieces. Naismith has been showing he's getting back to form. His time with us has been badly interrupted by injury but now there are signs he is getting back to the form he showed when he first came to us."

Smith identified Zaliukas's mistake for Rangers' second goal as pivotal but said he only began to relax after the third.

"That was an important goal to give us breathing space," he continued. "You are always happier to get a bit of daylight between yourselves and Hearts playing at Tynecastle. I knew they would keep going but the third goal was a good goal from our point of view. That gave us breathing space and we added another to give extra comfort."

Miller's views echoed those of his manager: "After a sticky first half we were just happy to come in a goal to the good.

"In the end it was a convincing win. Scoring our third goal was vital. If Hearts got a goal at that stage it was 2-2 and, with the crowd behind them, it would have been difficult.

"We went on to become convincing winners. I thought Naismith was fantastic, he always works so hard and on Saturday he got his reward. He could have had a hat-trick if his shot hadn't come off the bar for my goal. We want to win all our games now and take the title, which we can do up at Tannadice next month."

Taken from the Scotsman