Hearts keeper shows character after mistake to help

BARRY ANDERSON
LYING curled up inside his penalty area, there was no escape for Jamie MacDonald. His slip, however unfortunate, prompted the celebrations around him after Gregory Tade had given Inverness the lead. The Hearts goalkeeper would later be shouted down by manager Paulo Sergio whilst attempting to apologise to colleagues for his error.
Sergio preaches about collective responsibility and doesn't want individuals being blamed for mistakes, no matter how guilty they may feel. That approach is commendable but MacDonald's performance after the faux pas ensured he had no need to apologise. He was a picture of dejection as Tade took the acclaim for scoring, but two subsequent saves following efforts from the Frenchman and one from Richie Foran spared Hearts a rather comprehensive defeat in the Highlands.

Inverness cut through their opponents several times in search of a second goal but each time they encountered a defiant MacDonald clearly determined to atone for his error. The recovery must have restored the goalkeeper's confidence somewhat as he continues to deputise because of Marian Kello's injured shoulder. Stephen Elliott's equaliser nine minutes from time granted him the relief he had earned.

Asked if he felt sorry for his goalkeeper, Sergio said: "No, no, this happens in football. It happened one million times before with others. It's the responsibility of the whole group and it's my responsibility. When I went into the dressing-room I listened to Jamie saying 'hey guys, I'm sorry'. I screamed at him and said I don't want to listen to that. It's the responsibility of everybody.

"When something good happens it's the responsibility of everybody and it's the same when something bad comes. I am not sorry for him because this happens. The game was more about mistakes than quality. Inverness did not cause us much trouble but we gave them chances to score because we were not organised when we didn't have the ball.

"I think we didn't have a great first half. We were good in the first phase of construction, passing the ball and looking for good spaces. But in the second phase when we wanted to put the ball to our attackers, maybe because the pitch was too wet, we should have more precision with passes. That didn't happen in the first half and the other team was waiting on us to miss our passes, then they played long balls on the counter-attack.

"We were playing with a slower rhythm so at half-time I tried to change some positions and do our plan B. That was better, but when we did that we lost a goal.

They were very lucky in the way that they scored and then we had to run to chase the draw. I am always saying that when you can't win, you shouldn't lose."

After a brutally dreadful first half, Inverness seized the initiative on 51 minutes. MacDonald allowed Adrian Mrowiec's pass to run across his body and then stumbled attempting to clear the ball. Nick Ross was on hand to dispossess the goalkeeper as he fell, and he teed up Tade for a driven finish into the empty net.

Substitute David Templeton then struck the crossbar for Hearts before Tade twice sprinted on to through balls in behind the square Hearts defence. On both occasions, MacDonald was equal to the task, as he was when Foran controlled Tade's cross and hit a left-footed shot. Inverness were entitled to wonder why they only had a single-goal advantage to show for their ascendency, and with nine minutes remaining their profligacy was punished.

Hearts raised their game for the closing stages and Elliott, with his first goal of the season, forced an equaliser. He manoeuvred himself in ahead of Thomas Piermayr to prod Templeton's cross towards goal. The ball trundled out of Ryan Esson's reach and in off the goalkeeper's right post, sparking huge relief amongst the travelling support.

"It's two dropped points without a shadow of a doubt. We feel we did enough to win the game," said Terry Butcher, the Inverness manager. "I think they had one shot on target which hit the post and went in. Our lads were really disappointed in the dressingroom because they put everything into the game.

"It's a new team. It was David Davis' first taste of SPL action and Aiden Chippendale's as well, and they thrived on it.

"We showed Hearts a bit too much respect in the first half. They had a lot of possession but didn't create anything. I thought we looked dangerous on the break when we did get the ball. At half-time it was a case of we'd had a look at Hearts and (had] seen what they could do, but we hadn't shown what we could do yet.

"Hearts changed their system and went 4-4-2 in the second half which suited us. Andy Shinnie got on the ball and played things through and I couldn't see them scoring until that goal out of the blue. We were hanging on towards the end but we had chances to win the game. It's our fault we didn't win."

That statement overlooks Hearts' resilience, a commodity which will be vital if they are to repeat last season's feat of finishing third in the SPL. In order to achieve that placing, their away record must improve. The Edinburgh club's last victory outwith Tynecastle was back on February 12 at Hamilton. Sergio has extended training times at Riccarton and indefinitely cancelled the squad's midweek day off in order to improve.

"If you don't work, you don't improve. That's what I believe," explained the Portuguese.

"Everybody works eight hours a day, why can't football players work at least two hours every day? Why do they have to rest on Wednesday? I don't believe in that. I don't want to say what I'm doing is better than the others, it's just the way I believe in. This is what I learned and what I practised all my life.

"If you want to improve, you have to practice. You should be with the ball. If you play Saturday you recover Sunday and Monday, then you recover Wednesday and work Thursday? And then the next game is arriving? I don't believe in that. I don't want to say that those who are doing that are wrong, I'm just trying to explain to you my work. In this period of time we train double sessions two days a week.

"I believe that in Portugal we practice too much. You can come in the afternoon and work with videos and visuals to recognise mistakes with the players. You can work on free-kicks and corner-kicks, the things that make the difference in so many games. This is my point of view, I want that to be clear.

"The players have the technical level and I'm sure if they work more with the ball they will improve. That's why I want to give them the ball."

Taken from the Scotsman